From East to West ” “

Vocations are falling in Slovakia. At least that’s what seems to be the case judging from the figures: an average of 213 young men annually entered a seminary in the period 1990-1995; that figure dropped to 132 in the late 1990s, and has now fallen further to 87 in the period 2000-2005. Interviewed on the problem by the STV television channel, the dean of the faculty of Catholic theology at the Komensky University in Bratislava declared that “theological studies are for strong and determined individuals”. Of the same view is also his Lutheran counterpart, according to whom “the social prestige of the pastor is not what it was in the past. In spite of that, some growing interest is being expressed in the ministry by women. Ever more women are undertaking theological studies”. DURING THE COMMUNIST REGIME. “The figures in question – explains the spokesman of the Slovakian bishops, Monsignor Marian Gavenda, in a briefing to SIR – need to be placed in the wider context of the recent history of the country. In Slovakia – he explains – during the 40 years of Communism there existed only one seminary, situated at Bratislava; it was also open to Greek-Catholics and operated a numerus clausus, i.e. only some 30 new seminarians were admitted each year. In this way the regime planned a well-calculated slow agony. In fact, more priests died each year than those newly ordained. At the same time the average age of the clergy increased (it was 65 in 1989). Despite that, the number of those who wanted to enter a seminary remained high and this explains the boom in vocations registered after the fall of the Berlin Wall, in the early 1990s, when the seminaries of Kosice, Presov, Spisska Kapitula, Banska Bystrica and Nitra were re-opened”. THE REASONS FOR THE DECLINE. The current decline in admissions to seminaries that has been registered since 2000 can be explained, according to Gavenda, by five main reasons. “First, the demographic decline that is beginning to make its consequences felt also in schools. In Slovakia scores of state schools have to close each year due to lack of pupils. Baptisms are also falling: the number of baptisms was reduced by half in the archdiocese of Bratislava-Trnava between 1990-95 and 1996-2000″. Then there is the crisis of the family: in the seminary of Bratislava a third of the seminarians in 2000 came from divorced families”. Another “grave” reason is “the general inability of the young generations to take definitive decisions (also when it comes to marriage). That’s a new phenomenon for Slovakia, the result of the new consumerist culture which has also led to a growth in single-child families. The family policies of the State exacerbate this problem”. “We in the Church – says Gavenda – are trying to revive the ministry of vocations that was absent for years. This is one of the main focuses of attention of our Bishops’ Conference”. SOME FIGURES. The statistics of the diocesan seminaries show some correlation between the decline in vocations and seminary dropouts. Between 1990 and 1995 there were 1066 admissions to seminary, offset by 287 dropouts. Between 1995 and 2000, by contrast, there were 658 admissions to seminary, with 217 seminarians abandoning their studies. In the five years between 2000 and 2005 admissions were 437 with 131 dropouts. Portugal: baptisms and priests declining The fall in vocations and baptisms does not seem to affect only Slovakia. In Portugal, too, the number of baptisms and ordinations to the priesthood is also declining, according to the 2006 edition of the Catholic Yearbook of Portugal. The data, referring to 2003, show that 91.52% of the population profess the Catholic faith. The number of baptisms shows a reduction of almost 10,000 children, but this is also due to the declining birth rate. In 2000 some 92,000 children were baptized, in contrast to 82,640 in 2003. The number of diocesan priests dropped from 3,159 to 3,029 between 2000 and 2003. For every two priests that die (80 in 2003) only one is ordained (37). The number of seminarians studying philosophy and theology is also declining: from 547 in 2000 to 471 in 2003.