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Two German Dioceses Did Not Ordain Any New Priest This Year

Image: Osnabrück, St. Peter’s Cathedral

The official website of the German bishops, Katholisch.de, reported on 2 June that the Diocese of Osnabrück and of Mainz (the home diocese of Cardinal Gerhard Müller) will not ordain any priests this year.

As Katholisch.de writes:

The number of priestly ordinations in the Catholic Church in Germany seems obviously to remain, also in 2017, on a low level. According to a poll of the Katholische Nachrichten-Agentur (KNA) conducted in all dioceses, probably 76 young men are going to be ordained in the 27 dioceses. In the year 2016, there were all in all 82, according to the Zentrum für Berufungspersonal [Center for Vocations]. In 2015, the number [of ordained priests] had reached its lowest level, with 51. In 1995, for example, there were still 186 newly ordained priests in Germany.

The priests ordained by the various religious orders are not mentioned in this above list, but the orders themselves are not showing many new priests, either. In 2016, according to Katholisch.de, there were only 16 members of orders ordained as priests.

As Katholisch.de further explains, in Germany, most dioceses ordain their new priests on Pentecost weekend. Here are some more numbers: the seven dioceses of Bavaria are going to ordain this year 26 new priests, with Munich ordaining six, Augsburg and Würzburg each five; and Eichstätt and Bamberg each two. Nordrhein-Westfalen will ordain this year 18 new priests, among them nine in Cologne, five in Paderborn and two in Münster, one in Aachen and Essen. These dioceses are in some of the traditionally most Catholic areas in Germany. In contradistinction, North Germany will only ordain three new priests: two in Hildesheim; and one in Hamburg.

As Katholisch.de points out, for the first time in 100 years, Osnabrück will not ordain any priest, and now Mainz, too, will not ordain any new priest this year. In the east of Germany, there will be six new priests, and in the middle and southwest of Germany (such as Limburg, Freiburg, and Fulda), 23 new priests will be ordained.

Thus it becomes once more evident that among the closest allies of Pope Francis and his program of reform are those bishops’ conferences that are steadily loosing ground in the propagation of the Faith. Moreover, Sandro Magister, the Italian Vatican specialist, has also just importantly pointed this out when speaking himself about these few bishops’ conferences that are in full support of Pope Francis: “The only national episcopates that he [Pope Francis] can count on today are those of Germany, Austria, and Belgium, nations in which the Catholic Church is in the most dramatic decline.”

Therefore, it does not seem that the proposed Francis reform is sufficiently built on firm ground; it will certainly not gain much ardent support from those Catholics who are trying to preserve their Catholic Faith whole and entire.

Saint Boniface, the Apostle of the Germans (“Der Apostel der Deutschen“), pray for us!

46 thoughts on “Two German Dioceses Did Not Ordain Any New Priest This Year”

  1. Given the general comportment of the German Church perhaps this is the best we can hope for. Let it evaporate. This said, on of all days, the memorial of St. Boniface.
    You can tell the tree by its fruit.

    Reply
    • The Francis Effect: a barren tree.

      Like the Fig tree which had no fruit at all, it could be that Our Lord may cause the Church in Germany to whither altogether – and quickly. Meanwhile the Traditional Orders continue to grow.

      Reply
      • But we can no longer take comfort in the blades of hope constituted by the newer congregations observing the practice of classical religious life. When I read Francis’ Apostolic Constitution “Vultum Dei Quaerere” regarding contemplative nuns last summer I quaked. All traditional religious, even those who merely maintain vestiges of traditional religious life have a bulls eye on their backs. The Church is in the process not of renewal, not of reform, but of deconstruction. Jorge Mario Bergoglio and his crew of Marxists, gender ideology correct Jesuits are on a march. Neither monastic enclosure nor apostolic works of mercy will provide protection. In fact, you are far more likely to attract their attention and their ire.
        Make no mistake about it.

        Reply
  2. Evidently they have learned much from the Vocation-Destroyer-in-Chief.

    The Catholic press needs to do more to expose the work of Beroglio in Argentina, if only to provide evidence of a paradigm worthy of avoiding.

    Reply
  3. …And neither will the french diocese of Marseilles headed by the archbp Mgr Pontier, chief of the France’s Conference of Bishops.
    Marseilles is the 2nd largest city of France after Paris.

    Reply
    • Meanwhile, in the “rigid” religious order that is the FSSP, Fr. Bartholomew of Christ the King in Sarasota, FL, announced at Mass yesterday (available at LiveMass.net) that the FSSP just ordained seven seminarians in May at their seminary in Nebraska, with two more ordinations scheduled for June. In addition, the FSSP will have their first native African seminarian ordained in August on the feast of Our Lady’s Assumption.

      Funny, isn’t it, how the orders who have wholeheartedly embraced Catholicism at it has been practiced for century after century continue to grow and flourish (I believe I read somewhere that the FSSP in America has had to stop accepting seminarians, simply because they have nowhere to place them), while the diocesan seminaries who still cling to the New Pentecost™ narrative apparently couldn’t pay young men to become priests.

      Reply
      • The FSSP is supposed to ordain 24 men to the priesthood this year – split evenly between Europe and North America. That’s a record for them.

        Reply
        • The “Brotherhood of the Saint Apostles” of Fr Zanotti had a seminary (with 21 young men preparing for the priesthood) in the Bruxelles diocese while it was headed by the trad archbishop Mgr Leonard. Once retired, the arhbp was replaced by the modernist Mgr De Kesel who eagerly got rid of this trad seminary and chased it from his diocese

          Reply
          • Right. Kesel would rather have NO priests than THOSE sorts of priests.

            It was amusing to hear his proferred rationale that some of these seminarians were French, and that it was unfair to take vocations away from France like that.

    • The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate are strictly forbidden by the Vatican to accept novices.
      Too rigid, too trad nuns: Their apostolic inspector (a nun of another order) reported that the FSI are too much cloistered (!), they are fasting and doing penances too much (!) and, of ourse, they pray too much (!)

      Reply
    • “Bergoglio”

      You really should show proper respect to the Supreme Pontiff and address him by his regnal name, whether you like him or not.

      Reply
  4. It’s a double-edged sword, this news.

    One, I am glad (to put it bluntly): who wants the effeminate nu-Church to survive?

    Two, as there is no possibility, humanly-speaking, that these Bishops will see the error of their Modernist ways and return to Tradition, they will now speed up their liberal plans for Frau Gotterdamarung or Herr AchtungEnglander to “preside” over the “eucharistic assembly” – and this will quickly become the norm world-wide.

    Anyway, overall, one can say that the joyous Springtime of Vatican II just keeps on giving us its fruits. But they become more and more bitter each year, don’t they?

    Reply
    • Yes, because insisting that only priests can confect the Sacraments is the sort of clericalism Francis/Bergoglio rants and raves against whenever he’s given the opportunity to go off script. No, we trads are just so backwards and antiquated in our thinking, when all we really need to do is let Mrs. Fenstermaker the Spirit-of-Vatican-II-Lady and her counterparts in countless parishes lead our worship for us. Who needs priests, anyway?

      (sarcasm off)

      Reply
  5. Bergoglio destroyed vocations in Buenos Aires, and then began persecuting those bishops who did have vocations.

    When many dioceses and whole countries join Bergoglio in schism, the resulting “church” will be short-lived.

    Reply
    • Apparently he started his time as Archbishop of Buenes Aires with two hundred seminarians and ended it with none. And now the Universal Church has the benefit of such magnificent leadership.

      Reply
      • Not quite that bad, but…

        When he started as archbishop in ’97, they were ordaining 40+ per annum. In 2013, it was 12.

        This year, they ordained three.

        Reply
          • What I don’t understand is WHY he would discourage vocations. When your namesake was still in office, he declared a “Year of the Priest” in honor of St. John Vianney. To the best of my knowledge, he’s the only Saint (not including Our Lady) who has had this honor.

          • “What I don’t understand is WHY he would discourage vocations.”

            Haven’t you heard, Margaret? He wants to destroy the Catholic Church.

          • Why?

            Nu-Church is only concerned about one thing, Margaret – itself. It doesn’t matter how many churches are closed down, seminaries shut, nations reduced to sharing ever-fewer priests or whatever: as long as the patrimony from the past can be sold off to turn Bishop’s Chanceries into conference centres or hotels and keep the Nu-Church show on the road, then Nu-Church is happy.

          • As in a steward? If I remember right, the word “steward” originally meant a person who was in charge of the pigs. Very apropos. 😉

    • Because “When they tell me that there is a congregation that draws so many vocations, I must confess that I worry…”

      Reply
      • Yes, it will – wherever people profess the true Faith, attend the Roman Rite of Mass and receive valid sacraments. A functioning hierarchy would be great, too.

        Reply
    • “…Bergoglio…”

      You really should show proper respect to the Supreme Pontiff and address him by his regnal name, whether you like him or not.

      Reply
  6. With Reinhardt Marx& Koch etc. in charge and others the ruination of the faith is complete. You might as well have Groucho Marx or Karl Marx in charge of the German or Vatican church to say the least… . . Very sad to see Bergoglio Francis promotion of these people who have cino alleged rc Western church in ruins .

    Reply
    • The wealthy german episcopate has no other purpose for the Church than to provide huge amounts money to the Vatican which is always on the brink of bankrupt.
      Trivially said; The german bishops are holding the Pope by his balls. This helps to understand why he prefers to listen to Cardinals Marx and Kasper than to Cardinal Sarah who has no money available.
      Once the german government will be aware that the subsidies it spends for the german catholic episcopate doesn’t in no way match the attendance in free fall in the german catholic churches, the money tap will stop flowing, and then the Vatican will be in a very dire situation.

      Reply
      • Daneels ,Bonnie, Dekesel ,Koch, Maradiaga of Honduras ,two Chileans Bishops, Depaglia and R Marx were promoted or put in charge by Bergoglio Francis’s AFTER they were Exposed for covering up for pederast priests abuse or are Homosexuals themselves………. Not to Mention pf refusal to take action in Buenos Aires school for deaf children, similar scandal in Verona Italy after numerous warnings for yrs.. Plus his reinstatement of Infamous Invilo and boerslinger removed for misconduct by Pope Benedict 16th for Invlio and knights of Malta.

        Reply
  7. Here in Germany as with mush of Western World most bishops persist in having large numbers guided and welcomed to invalid and/or illicit sacraments. This is very destrictive. It deterrs vocations, disarms mission and is a grave diservice. The Episcopacy itself has failed to exercise prophetic leadersjip in sacramental stewardship. But this us key in our Post Christendom reality. Our bishops are inadvertantly our biggest obstacle to the New Evangelization. The N E means changing from a maintanance parish model to a mission model. But to bishops the N E seems to only mean more of the same. Where are our prophetic voices? This is so urgent. With our massive church tax support here, and thus being an employers of hundreds of thousands of lay prople (in non evangelizing positions) bushops need more coursge to obey church teaching and the Gospel imperstive in this ctitical key matter. The cost of their weakness is catastrophic.

    Reply
  8. Perhaps God is protecting the sweet, faithful, young men who desire to become priests, from losing their souls, upon entering the priesthood in today’s Church climate. Can you blame our Lord?

    I have no pity left.

    Reply
  9. Yes, ordained perhaps. One question: are these new priests of German stock or various Africans, Poles and Asians who happen to study and consequently be ordained in Germany? In Wien in some parishes they have priests from India or Poland, the original Germans are nowhere to be see. I would like to see some of the numbers on that.

    Reply

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