Sharing an article that contains an important reminder for us all as lay people... pray for our priests...the brave men in the trenches if this spiritual war we are in. And, as father points out (and I agree) the main cause is lack of fatherliness of bishops. So will also pray the Lord give us good and holy bishops no mater who the pope may be Are Priests Happy? By Fr. Steve Ryan, SDB The Catholic Project at The Catholic University of America recently published results of a survey on American priests. The study examined the well-being of Catholic priests, their levels of burnout and their confidence in their bishops or religious superiors. The data confirmed that American priests are flourishing at levels well above the average for the general population. By and by, most priests are really happy. Most priests enjoy administering the sacraments, preaching and teaching. Most priests have good relationships with families and friends. Most priests enjoy catechizing and evangelizing. Most priests are honored to be God’s instruments of healing and mercy in the sacrament of reconciliation. I hope that (for most of you reading this) this fact that, the overwhelming number of priests in the USA are happy, is not surprising. The survey/study does confirm that men who enter the priesthood tend to be very happy with their vocation. However, when you see your priests looking tired and stressed out from time to time you may have your concerns. What are the causes of the greatest amount of tension in the life of a priest? I’ll name three: OVERWORK: Many of us priests don’t know how to balance our lives. We try to “do it all” and it gets exhausting! Many priests (44% of diocesan priests, 31% of religious priests) show signs of burnout 45% of younger priests (those ordained since 2000) say they are expected to do too many things that go beyond their calling as a priest While zeal for souls and passion for the mission drive us forward – we priests have to be careful not to overdo it. Many of us priests are workaholics. LONELINESS: At the end of the day after helping so many others and taking the ‘hits’ in administration that are not always popular – a priest can feel like he’s on an island all by himself. Prayer helps! Prayer is, in fact, essential. And so is having some good friends and family members come to visit from time to time. However, the study shows that – especially for a good percentage of younger priests – there are strong indicators of loneliness (older priests are doing significantly better). A bit of loneliness is normal in any person’s life. Aloneness is part of the deal of not having a spouse. I often ask myself questions like, “How can I relax when I have so much to do? Who can I confide in when everyone looks to me to have all the answers?” (Numbers one and two listed above are not the biggest “stressors” for priests. I believe number three below is.) THERE’S AN AUTHORITY PROBLEM: There seems to be one real concern among both diocesan priests and religious order priests, and that is in their confidence and trust in the leadership of their bishops and provincials. It remains a problem for many priests. 52% of priests expressed a concern about their relationship with their superior – the bishop or the provincial. That challenge is that our ecclesial leaders are so caught up in administration and liability that they aren’t communicating empathy and support for their men in the trenches (the parishes, schools and ministries). Crisis magazine also commented that this is the heart of the problem with most priests. There are tensions between priests and their religious superiors (bishops and provincials). Crisiswent so far as to say we are living in times of an ‘anti-fatherhood’ episcopate. Bishops are relating to their priests, not as spiritual fathers, but as absent, critical or even abusive fathers. The ecclesial authorities are GOVERNORS, NOT FATHERS. The tragic mishandling of the sexual abuse crisis by bishops and provincials between 1965 and 1990 resulted in needed safeguards and standards to prevent sexual abuse. From 1992 until now, this has resulted in accountability to a clear moral code and standard. Thus, very few cases of abuse. Thank God! That’s a much better management by Church leaders with those correctives taken – Amen! All good, except that for the past twenty years or so, bishops and provincials tend to see their collaborating priests as liabilities – not assets. Many priests are given little affirmation from their superiors for all the good they do. They are mostly given reminders not to mess up. By and large priests are left to live their vocations in silent despair and even fear. If their ecclesial boss ever hears from anyone that anything ever goes wrong with money, relationships, preaching, staff, or if an accusation was made of moral wrongdoing – they are outta here. This is the backdrop behind what steals the joy away from many priests. How can the bishops and religious superiors be more fatherly, more relational? Well, years ago these ecclesial leaders seemed to be more friendly. They were in the seminary with the very priests they now oversee. They went around to visit more often. They let their guard down with their brothers in the clergy and religious orders. Now, however, they’re more cautious. Bishops are appointed by the pope and usually come from outside of the diocese. These “company men” are often good and even heroic in handling real challenges with personnel, diminished financial resources and lack of lay people trained to take over key positions, but dealing with these other concerns tends to make them less brotherly or fatherly to their priests. And yes – they are under serious scrutiny by the faithful and clergy and that adds to their pressures. In conclusion, priests are generally happy. I know I’m happy – just tired! Many of my ordained companions feel the same way. I think the areas of concern that I pointed out in this article are where the stress comes from. These “stressors” can sometimes take the joy out of a clergyman. While overwork and loneliness are a concern, the real challenge today is a lack of morale. At the heart of it is a need for fraternity and fatherliness from the religious superiors and bishops. Just my opinion. Please pray for all your priests. Their vocation is so important in the Church. Thank you for supporting them.
Thank you for posting this. It confirms so much of what I was seeing personally. This confirms my suspicion further that the church has a massive bureaucracy problem. It's the provincials and bishops who brought in the sodomites and moved them around once caught. Then the bishops and provincials go on to project that priests are liabilities. I don't even know where to begin when it comes to their "diminished financial resources". Maybe if the bishops didn't bring in large numbers of homosexual pedophiles there wouldn't have been huge payouts to victims of their abuse and they would have some money. Every parish gets FREE money in the form of donations. They don't have to run a business, make a new product, they literally just have to manage free money. All the buildings are already all paid for by previous generations. Every time I hear the church has diminished financial resources I can't help but wonder how bad these bishops must be in managing funds. Then they delegate all the pressure from these horrible management practices onto the priests. We have a serious bureaucracy problem in the church from the bishops up and it needs to stop. My guess is that there is zero accountability for the position of bishop and upwards. At least provincials get voted out. Maybe that's what needs to happen, bishops should be elected by the priests.
Not disagreeing with you but if my parish is indicative, the financial issues are real. Our pastor is very transparent with parish finances. The same inflationary realities that we face as individuals impact the parish. Costs of everything are up. Unfortunately, number of weekly Mass attendees are down especially since Covid. And even for those who do attend, our weekly contribution probably has stayed the same. So most parishes are running a deficit. My wife and I just recently decided to increase our weekly contribution after reflecting and recognizing we have made same contribution for a long time
I get this somewhat. But the thing is that the buildings have all been paid for long ago. So the costs are maintenance and living expenses for the priests. The church also gets loads of tax benefits and often funding from the government. Which means that for many decades prior to now they likely were taking in much more money than their costs. Where did that money go? The Catholic church in general should be the most wealthy organization on the planet given how much wealth it has accrued over the last 2000 years in the form of donations. Something is seriously wrong in the church in terms of finances. This something is what Cardinal Pell was attacked for. I will give you another example. Even though many churches are closing and orders dying, the property values of their monasteries and churches are massive. So when they sell these locations, because they have to downsize they end up with loads of cash. So even in the downturn they should have lots of money. Where did this money go?
At the end of his homily (today’s Mass at the National Shrine of Divine Mercy), Fr. Chris Alar requested for prayers due to personal attacks on him, particularly the vicious comments online directed against him. Despite his difficulties, he assured the public that he (and the Marian Fathers) will always be faithful to the teachings of the Church. Please fervently pray and offer sacrifices for him and other good, holy priests and consecrated souls under attack. They really need our spiritual and emotional support. For those who have accounts on YouTube, etc., please consider posting encouraging comments and words of comfort for Fr. Chris and his congregation (https://www.youtube.com/@DivineMercy_Official). Thanks and God bless you. As always, all of you and your personal intentions are included in my prayers and in the prayers of the Marian prayer intercessors, as well as in the Masses celebrated at the National Shrine of Divine Mercy.
Fr Chris Alar is a God-send. He was there for us all during the plandemic and for so much enrichment of our faith. I pray for him and also for the souls of those who attack priests, may they be forgiven.
Thank you for the heads up. I will post and I will pray. As they say in the Marine Corps--if you're taking flak you are over the target. He is most definitely over the target.
Prayers for poor priests. One thing that strikes me at the minute is how very,very dangerous it is to speak the truth in these dark days. A shepherd by definition is required to do so. But they are so very,very vulnerable especially when those like their Bishops, Cardinals and the Vatican itself would just be as inclined to stab them in the back as to have their backs. But there is one great example from the past of truth telling in the face of another Great Evil.
The parish I belong to is twinned with a larger parish with one priest supporting both. My small country church which was always full prior to COVID, now the population of parishioners averages around a half number of people. Our fluctuating $1500 in our basket each week. With maintenance, utilities, hired staff such as our secretary, snow plow drivers (we tend to get quite a bit of snow here) and other miscellaneous unexpected costs $6000 a month is not a lot to work with. Cleaning, lawn maintenance, flowers for the church etc. are donated by church volunteers. The twinned Church has a larger newly built building (built around twenty years ago) so it still has a mortgage on it. Because of the size requires a lot more expense for upkeep. Their average parishioners contributions come to @ $3200 a week. Our annual financial statement shows that my small parish just shy of being in the deficit. Our twin is scraping by with around only $4800 in the positive. The priest (God bless him) has to really work to keep both places afloat. When he came to us years ago he started a financial committee of parish volunteers to help us
Yes, I totally understand that many parishes are barely scraping by, cutting costs where possible. Eventuating in the closure of parishes around the world as attendance declines. But your parishes are still wealthy, even though there is still a mortgage on one property, because of the value of the property they rest on. Eventually it may come to pass where one of the two parishes will close and be sold. While not ideal, still makes it possible to keep everything going. I don't say this to be unkind, but to point out that there is still a path forward in spite of the current decline, and I am guessing that both churches are less than a hundred years old. Now imagine places that have churches that are hundreds of years old. All the wealth they generated over the centuries. The fact that the pension for priests is overextended is mind boggling to me. The wealth the church has accrued over two millennia is massive. I am positive that billions if not trillions should be in the coffers and holdings. Something is seriously wrong is what I am trying to point out, and not necessarily at the local level.
Our 'Family of Parishes' here has four consolidated Churches. Two in our town and two others in separate nearby towns that are about 20 minutes each to get to from here in opposite directions. Our priest has told us that we have to have less Masses so any with smaller attendance would be eliminated. Recently they have set one Mass per Sunday at each Church incl. one Sat. evening Mass. After covid, our attendance dwindled somewhat and has never been back to the numbers it was at and therefore the financials are also down. So couple this with the falling numbers of seminarians/retiring priests and we're going to be in big trouble soon. We had an associate priest but will be losing him also due to this. And no seminarian this year like we have almost always had. This all starts Jan. of 2026. The times are changing and are exactly following the signs of the times..
This is sad and disturbing to hear. The Companions of the Ctoss are a Canadian order of priests founded by the late Fr Bob Bedard. They are blessed with many vocations. ( Fr Mark Goring is a member of the order) i wonder if they are anywhere near you?
Fr Mark is in Ottawa which is about 7 hours from me. This lack of priestly vocations is widespread sadly. If one of my sons was debating joining the priesthood, I'd be sending him to The Marian's under Fr Chris Alar. They're thriving! And I'd be comfortable knowing he was getting exquisite formation!
I watch my priest who is over 90 years old come to say Mass every day in the Monastery and in our Parish Church. I am coming to love him more and more. How inspiring to see him doing this. Also for me he is a great sign of human hope. If a man in his 90's can do this at 70 it makes me feel like a child. It's so nice to have someone out there right in front of you you can really truly admire like this. May God Bless all good priests. May He lead all bad priests to repentance.
Cardinal Wuerl popped into my head yesterday (of all people) and I felt like I should pray for him. I added in all priests as well, something which I regretfully often neglect to do. So, I thought I'd bump this thread. Prayers for our priests.
He was my Cardinal here in the Archdiocese of Washington. Thank you for praying for him. I also will follow your lead. I do not pray enough for our priests.
