Growing flock, fewer shepherds

Eighty-year-old priests work past retirement age because no youthful replacement waits in the wings. Some parishes are left without resident pastors altogether.

In Catholic hospitals, the sick wait for the holy sacraments or a comforting word.

Habit-wearing teachers are no longer the norm at Catholic schools and instead are replaced with street-clothed administrators and non-Catholic teachers.

The changes are nothing new to the Roman Catholic Church, which has been struggling to deal with a steady decrease in the number of priests and nuns for nearly 30 years.

The dwindling numbers are not a mystery, merely a collision of circumstances: The congregations are getting larger, the priests are getting older and the seminaries are getting emptier.

Some say it is the fact that priests and nuns are not allowed to marry. Catholic families are smaller, shrinking the pool of clergy candidates, others say.

Some even suggest that Catholics no longer encourage their children who show interest in religious orders and, in fact, may discourage them from what appears to be a life of servitude.

"There's no easy answer to it," said Monsignor Richard Rolwing, the vicar general and ranking Catholic for the area. "It's not that God's still not calling, it's just that there's a reluctance to answer."

But if the situation has created a crisis in other places, Cape Girardeau has not been hit as hard. The Catholic Church continues to expand, and there are priests for every parish in Cape Girardeau County.

As the church tries to promote the priesthood, Catholic congregations have risen up to meet the challenge, whether by necessity or a calling from God, in roles once largely filled by nuns and priests.

St. Francis Medical Center has a resident priest to deliver the sacraments to Catholics, as well as other full-time chaplains of many denominations. They also use a group of volunteers called Stephen Ministers, 16 people from all denominations, to visit the sick.

Catholic schools report that the religious presence is still as strong as ever, if somewhat different in appearance.

Three Southeast Missourian reporters took an in-depth look at the trends and their impact on area Catholics.