The Concept of the ‘Crisis of the Priesthood’ by German-speaking Theologians of the 20th century

Abstract

Modern problems of the priesthood, its theological foundation, historical origins and position in modern world became in the 20th century the subject of examination for the most famous Catholic theologians. At the same time the fi gure of priest is mostly refl ected in their works through the concept of ‘crisis’. However, the concept of ‘crisis of the priesthood’ was never systematically conceptualized, and its presence in the theological discourse looks like an axiom that needs no evidence. In literature it generally comes to description of the separate crisis phenomena. In most cases the authors note the downsize of priests, priestly identity crisis in modern world, the loss of the meaning of celibacy, the emerging of ‘pastoral’ and secular professions, providing competition to priests, loss of traditional functions of religion in modern society, and consequently the priests are suff ering primarily, as religions representatives. But on closer examination it turns out that these phenomena are not new for the Catholic Church and might have various and even contradictory interpretations. This article analyzes the main symptoms of the crisis described in Catholic literature, and suggests that the crisis of the priesthood is not a given, but some form of understanding the reality. This rhetoric allows to refl ect upon the current situation as a challenge which requires the mobilization of the forces of the church and an adequate theological response that can aff ect social reality.

Keywords

• theology of the priesthood
• crisis
• the Catholic Church
• the philosophy of the crisis
• the Second Vatican Council
• the church ministry
• postmodern society
• religion