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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

The seminarians worldwide are much more conservative than in times past (I have my theories).

[/quote]

Please elaborate. I read this recently and wondered why.[/quote]

My theories:

1.  Keeping with secular trends, the younger men are more conservative in reaction to the prevailing culture. In this case, conservative Catholics have viewed Vatican II as a failure. The young men today have only grown up in a post Vatican II world and many view it as a failure.   Additionally, priests tend to come from much larger Catholic families (not all of them, but they are disproportionately over represented). Those 5+ kid Catholic families are overwhelmingly conservative.  And priests come from those type of families.

I suspect as well that large conservative families are also probably more supportive of their sons seeking the priesthood. As one priest told me, a mom is more likely to be supportive of her son entering the seminary if she has four other sons but it is harder to do when he is an only son.

2.  As the secular culture has become more affirming and young men are more comfortable being out, I *think* fewer men are going to the seminary as a refuge. So a number of young men who would be inclined to be more progressive are not showing up to the seminary in the first place.

Combine the two trends and you have a turbo charged conservative young clerical class. The older, more senior clerics are aware of it (ink has been spilled on the topic, but I can’t find the interviews right now) and many of them see it as a problem, but not one easily solved. [/quote]

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