(10 of 10)
What gives a measure of credibility to this prospect of change is evidence that the new generation of religious recruits seems to be as dedicated to renewal as those who have left ecclesiastical ranks in the cause of another form of Christian service. Says a Jesuit scholastic from California, Lawrence Goulet: "Is there hope for the future of the church? Does the bear live in the woods? Some see tumult in the church as destructive decadence. I see it as a sign of vitality." Seminarian Lyndon Farwell contends that "those of us who are staying with the institutional church do so not looking backward to what has been, but forward to what can be.
The church is being transformed and will continue to be transformed. We want to be part of that transformation."
Many future priests have more in common with today's ex-priests than they do with those who administer the institutional church.
That is not to argue that tomorrow's vision is necessarily better than yesterday's, or that the Christian rebels are certain to be more accurate prophets than the Christian traditionalists. In an era of stress and uncertainty, those who stand and serve in obedience to the Holy See may ultimately demonstrate more wisdom than those who are challenging it. Despite the clamor for change on celibacy, there is no guarantee that marriage will become an option for priests of the future. Despite the promise of the Immaculate Heart experiment, there is no guarantee that it will be the model for future Christian communities. The modern ecclesiastical rebel seems to want instant change—and indeed, change is necessary and inevitable. The historical way of the Catholic Church, however, is to reform only after the dust of disruption and internal struggle has settled.
The priests and nuns who have joined the exodus have, in a certain sense, lost some personal battles. It remains to be seen whether they will have won a communal war. If—and it is a very large if —the church in the next decades emerges as a new vivid epiphany of the Christian experience, more truly catholic but less Roman, then those who have departed its service will be entitled to a large share of the credit.
*A canonical process in which a petitioner is first examined on his reasons for leaving, then ultimately "reduced to the lay status." The procedure can often be humiliating, and many priests (including James Shannon) simply refuse to undergo it.