by J. Augustine

THE PUBLICATION of the Catholic Directory and the Catholic Almanac for 1981 demonstrate more forcibly than any words could convey the serious deterioration of the Catholic Church since the advent of the great "reform and renewal" in 1965 following the close of Vatican II. With a present Catholic population of over 50,000,000 people, there are only 12,468 seminarians studying for the priesthood, of whom a considerable number will never reach ordination. This number represents only one-fourth of the number seminarians studying for the priesthood in 1965, the year the "great renewal and reform" began and when there were 5,000,000 fewer Catholics. At this unprecedented rate of decline (74%) during the last 15 years, in another 15 years there will be only about 3,100 seminarians in all the United States; a startling figure compared to the 49,000 seminarians in 1965.

The "great war" ended in 1945. Catholic servicemen who served so splendidly during the nearly four years of war, returned home to the same Church and same Sacraments which they had left and which sustained them during their tenure of service. They returned to a Church that had made most impressive gains for years and which continued to do so during the next twenty years. Catholic schools proliferated and seminaries were filled to overflowing, vocations to the sisterhood were numerous, over 100,000 converts entered the Church each year and more than 50 new Catholic colleges were established. The Catholic Church was the largest and the most prosperous religious denomination in the United States and was growing rapidly. Yet, according to some, this great achievement needed substantial "reform and renewal" and Pope John was prevailed upon to convoke the Second Vatican Council—the first pastoral council in Church history. Its effects were not generally felt until after 1965 when it closed, except in the field of converts. The false ecumenical flavor of the Council was already having an impact on non-Catholics. The annual number of converts having reached over 140,000 in 1959, declined to only 126,000 by 1965. And the number of converts has continued to steadily decline every since.

During the 10 years preceding the Council (1955-1965) the Catholic population increased by more than 12,000,000, the number of priests by more than 10,000, the number of sisters by more than 20,000 and the number of seminarians by almost 15,000. The number of priests, brothers, sisters, and seminarians virtually reached an all-time high. The figures are impressive, indeed!

While the threat to the world at large and the Church in particular by 1965 continued to be the errors of Russia as foretold by Our Lady of Fatima and as epitomized by the Soviet Union, which occupied virtually half of Europe, and whose unprincipled tenets were spreading dangerously around the world, the "great Council" deliberately ignored this threat. It concerned itself with the interior administration of the Church based on centuries of practical experience and its ancient liturgy grounded on the traditions and teachings of the Holy Fathers, the great saints, popes and scholastics during almost twenty centuries and upon which the steady growth of the Church had been nourished. The Council laid the groundwork for the great "reform and renewal" with its ambiguous phraseology in some of its decrees. The direct aftermath of the Council was an unprecedented "reform" of the Sacraments and the liturgy and its established and official administration and a virtual ignorance of the great threat to itself—the errors of Russia; atheism, materialism and secularism. This spirit of "renewal" as it has been called, and the "reform" it generated, has during the past fifteen years (since the close of the Council) had the following "beneficial" consequences for the Church in the United States: The Church has lost 97,301 sisters, 36,524 seminarians and 4,305 brothers, and 68 Catholic colleges went out of business. There were 37,267 fewer converts than in 1965. The figures are inversely impressive:

While the total number of priests remained almost constant during this period, nearly 10,000 left the priesthood during this same time. It seems clear that with the rapidly diminishing number of seminarians, the priesthood will soon be vastly depleted.

The above figures are absolutely staggering and there has been nothing like it since the Protestant rebellion of "reform and renewal" in the 16th century which took entire countries out of the Church and which have never returned to the Faith. Yet, the advocates of the great "spirit of reform and renewal" continue to espouse its cause unabashedly as it continues to devastate the Faith.

It would be safe to say on the basis of its accomplishments of the past 15 years that the great "reform and renewal" will have the same consequences for the Faith that the "reform and renewal" of the 16th century had, only this time the results will be world-wide, not localized in a portion of Europe. It would be safe to say also, that until the integrity of the Sacraments are restored to their pre-conciliar substance, the Church in the United States and the Faith will continue to suffer the ravages of the "Spirit" of Vatican II.

All figures from the Catholic Almanac or Directory for the respective years.