Not Right or Wrong— Just More
May/June 2014
"Most, if not all, Catholics at some point find themselves worrying about the future of the Church."
When I was in the college seminary, a venerable old Redemptorist came for a visit and said, “I met the seminarians, and I am not impressed.” I heard other comments about “the seminarians” during my nine years in the seminary, but none as memorable as the one made by that aging Redemptorist concerned about the future of his beloved congregation.
Maybe Pope Francis’ comment that some seminarians are like “little monsters” was born out of the same kind of feeling—concern for the future of the Church. Most, if not all, Catholics at some point find themselves worrying about the future of the Church. So we look to the future leaders of the Church—seminarians—to get some indication of where the Church might be headed. A sense of eagerness was evident in most of the men during my time in the seminary. We were eager to serve God and God’s people, to bring people closer to Christ in the Church.
I sense a different direction or emphasis in some seminarians today. Certainly they are eager to bring people closer to Christ and the Church, but there’s something else: They feel called to reform the Church. I’ve heard them say things like, “Nothing good happened after Vatican II” and “Vatican II was a mistake.”