CATHOLICISM Students embrace pontiff's views

These young seminarians often are more conservative than older priests.
NEWSDAY
ROME -- Atop a steep hill affording some of this city's most sweeping views of St. Peter's Basilica, several dozen young Americans have pledged themselves to restore the sanctity of the Roman Catholic priesthood.
At a time when their friends back home are starting careers and marrying sweethearts, these young men are making an uncommon choice: They are committing themselves to lives of service and celibacy because they believe they are called to spread the gospel.
They refer to themselves as "John Paul's Men." And like their 83-year-old hero, they are fervent about their faith and self-confidently orthodox in ways that distinguish them from an earlier generation of seminarians weaned on Vietnam War-era protests and the women's movement.
"I look out my window at St. Peter's every day, and I think about John Paul's resiliency and his tireless efforts to bring the gospel to all," said Robert Keighron, 22, of New York, a second-year seminarian at the 144-year-old Pontifical North American College in Rome. "No one is excluded by this pope. No one. And that zeal is what I am attracted to."
Drawn to legacy
Keighron and many of his 155 brethren at this American seminary in Rome are typical of a new, more conservative generation of seminarians who were born after John Paul's election and came of age during his 25-year pontificate. In a sharp break with the more rebellious attitudes that characterized their predecessors, many emulate John Paul's personal piety as well as his orthodoxy on matters ranging from mandatory priestly celibacy, to birth control and divorce, to his vision of priests as shepherds leading their flock. And they say their intention is nothing less than to carry on the pope's legacy long after he is gone.
"We've seen a lot of the mistakes that our parents' generation has made," said David Carter, 24, of Knoxville, Tenn., a third-year seminarian. "John Paul resonates with where we're coming from. He speaks the truth with that courageous, even radical breaking from the course that society has taken since the 1960s and which has led to so much destruction of human life."
The recent string of revelations about sex abuse by priests in the United States has not only forced them to undergo criminal background checks but has bolstered their conviction that moral ambiguity leads people astray.
"When all these scandals were breaking back in the States, we talked about how we were not going to let this happen in our generation," Carter said.
Priest shortage
If history is any guide, these men will have a significant impact on shaping the next generation of American Catholics. The Pontifical North American College has produced more U.S. bishops and cardinals than any other seminary. These men will have a disproportionate effect on the faithful in an age of declining ordinations and a graying priesthood.
The number of graduate seminarians has fallen from 8,325 in 1965 to 3,414 today, for instance, in a testament to what sociologist Dean Hoge of Catholic University in Washington calls "the elephant in the living room," that is, a growing priest shortage in a faith tied to the celebration of the Eucharist.
And although the seminarians' conservative orientation is welcomed in many quarters, some worry their moral certitude may create rifts with those who ignore Rome's teachings on church attendance, sex, birth control and divorce and who are increasingly vocal in their demand for a role in church governance.
Conflicting generations
In a study released last year at a symposium titled "Priestly Identity in a Time of Crisis," Hoge described a growing generational divide in the U.S. priesthood and warned of tensions not just between clergy and lay people, but between different generations of clergy.
For instance, he found that more than two-thirds of older priests said they would welcome a married priesthood, compared with one-third of younger priests. Similarly, almost a third of priests aged 56 to 65 saw the notion of a priest as "a man set apart" as a barrier to Christian community -- double the rate of priests aged 25 to 35.
Many of those differences reflect the specific influence of events such as the Second Vatican Council, which met from 1962 to 1965 and led to major reforms in liturgy.
"Those were very dramatic times after the Second Vatican Council" said the Rev. Paul Robichaud, 53, who recruits and trains seminarians for chaplaincy in the U.S. Naval Reserve and who is pastor of Santa Susanna, the American parish in Rome.
Popularity vs. adherence
Not surprisingly, the young seminarians echo the certitude and the principles of the only pope they've known. Over and over again, they cite him as their role model for the priesthood, in terms of a shepherd who watches over his flock with compassion, but who doesn't hesitate to criticize those who stray.
But given that the pope's personal popularity is not matched by a corresponding devotion to his teachings, how will this play out when these seminarians are ordained and return to the United States to work as parish priests?
"I am confident they will be men of compassion," said seminary rector Monsignor Kevin McCoy, an alumnus of an earlier era himself. "Because they know that they, too, are sinners redeemed. And they know that they'll never reach perfection on this side."