Filling the pastor void

At our country's beginning, Presbyterians were the second largest denomination.  By 1860, the Baptists had gone from a third our size to twice our size and the Methodists had gone from nothing to three times our size.  So our history is one of missed opportunities.

One of the first missed opportunities was the opening of the west.  Presbyterians, with their strict ordination requirements couldn't supply enough pastors for the new land.  The Baptists could.  It was actually one of the forces that caused the Cumberland church to break off.

Now with over half our pulpits open, we have finally losened the reins by allowing CLPs although some Presbyteries still haven't gotten on board.  An educated clergy is one of our hall marks but the question really is would you rather have a Presbyterian CLP in the pulpit or a Baptist who doesn't have a job.

But if you think we've got a problem, consider the Catholics.  The 62 million Catholics in the U.S. have only 40580 priests and that's down 13% from 2000 while the church itself added 8 million congregants.    That's one priest for 1,528 people.

So they've been leaning on their own CLP program more and more.  They've now got nearly 14,000 ordained "Deacons" who can take up some of the tasks of the priesthood but not all.  Deacons can't say mass, consecrate the Eucharist or hear confessions but they can perform baptisms, marry and bury folks, and conduct prayer services including a sermon.  Why they can perform one sacrament but not another is a mystery to me.

So Deacons are sort of second rate Priests but CLPs are pretty close to the real thing except they can't participate in the retirement program.  But here's a problem.  The Catholics have a strict 4 year training program.   We've got nothing except a line in the book of order that says they shall be trained in the basics.  Not how long, not who should do the training, not what it should specifically cover. 

It's time the denomination took responsibility for developing a standard program.