The Catholic Church in the Philippines has been experiencing a shortage of priests, as fewer young men enter seminaries. Add to that the fact that many members of the Filipino clergy are often asked to serve in foreign churches, which only remain open to serve the spiritual needs of overseas Filipinos.
For now, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Episcopal Commission on the Doctrine of Faith chairman, Imus, Cavite Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle believes it is not yet too late to stanch the outflow of Filipino clerics.
"It might even be worse in other countries, in other continents," Tagle said. "We are seeing a decline, but we are better off than many other churches."
"Some religious orders in Europe, they are not getting any candidates at all," he said. "Some religious orders in Europe and the United States depend on the Philippines, so we send some of our sisters, some of our priests, some of our religious already to other countries."
With this development, Tagle couldn’t deny the irony of history in the situation.
"Before, Europe and America were the ones which sent missionaries to us," he said. "Now we are the ones sending (missionaries to them). As it is, even if we are sending and we are better off, we are already beginning to see the decline. We have to learn from the experience of Europe and the US."
Tagle was one of the speakers at the ongoing five-day National Congress of the Clergy at the World Trade Center in Pasay City. The event is the biggest gathering of priests from all over the country, which is designed to "renew" the priesthood, which has been hit hard by a series of sex scandals sweeping through Catholic churches worldwide.
The event drew 3,869 priests and 89 bishops, said to be a bigger gathering of priests than that which received Pope John Paul II during his 1995 visit to the Philippines.
Tagle said the country needs at least 25,000 more priests to reach an ideal ratio of one priest for every 2,000 parishioners. Now, he said, there are cases when there is only one priest for 15,000 parishioners.
He said the shortage in priests leaves many priests overworked, but added that the Catholic Church in the Philippines is thankful for the fact that, in Asia’s most populous Catholic nation, the churches are still packed with the faithful.
Tagle said that at one Mass he attended abroad, there were only 15 people. He added that the Boston Archdiocese, the richest Catholic archdiocese in the world, is closing down 65 parishes because of poor attendance.
"Sometimes it is the Filipinos that keep these churches open," he said. "There are churches which are about to be closed, but (their closure) would be postponed because of the growing Filipino attendance."
"These things happen to such Christian continents. (In Europe), there is a church on every corner, but, probably, they did not think that, one day, those churches would be empty and the seminaries and the novitiates will become empty," he said. "That is a good reminder to us that we cannot take things lightly. We cannot say we still have seminaries and novitiates. It is only Europe’s problem. No. It came to them (and) we have to be vigilant - it might come to us."
Tagle said the Catholic Church is now telling priests to interact with their parishioners and inspire youngsters to seek a life in the Holy Mother Church through interaction, information dissemination and greater presence.