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View from the Altar: Reflections on the Rapidly Changing Catholic Priesthood
View from the Altar opens a window into the lives of dedicated men of the Church who have repeatedly had to relearn their most cherished traditions, rituals, and roles. Moving beyond the idealistic accounts of flawless priests, and the cynical rehearsal of grievances about the Church, Bleichner uses vignettes from actual experience to give us a account of the recent history, and likely future, of real men who dedicate their lives and spirits to the service of the Church.
224 pages, Paperback
First published July 25, 2004
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April 28, 2025
A PRIEST AND PROFESSOR LOOKS AT CHANGE SINCE THE 1950s
Howard Bleichner (1937-2022) was a Sulpician priest who also taught theology at Catholic colleges and seminaries. He wrote in the Introduction to this 2004 book, “This book on priestly formation and priestly spirituality was begun a year after the tragedy of September 11, 2001, and nine months after the sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church began to unfold… a word on each [of those events] seems … unavoidable.. With the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York City, a long war has opened that will irrevocably mark the future… Beginning in January 2002, the Archdiocese of Boston became the epicenter of sexual abuse scandals that spread across the United States… the sexual abuse scandals have struck the Catholic Church in the United States with the force of a tsunami… In only six months, the priesthood seemed to melt from a widely respected vocation to a suspect calling, tarnished by a broad-based suspicion of child abuse and populated largely by gay men.” (Pg. 13-15)
He explains, “Ultimately, this essay is not about priestly misconduct but about priestly spirituality in an ancient and honored vocation that finds itself at a critical moment. But without a credible interpretation of recent events, the road to the main topic is blocked… It will take a hard-fought battle through difficult terrain to reach an upland where we can credibly turn to the subject of priestly formation… [This book] is for seminarians, priests, and bishops, but also for a wider audience of Catholics now more interested in how priests are formed. They also wish to make sense of the sexual abuse scandals… [The book] is also an essay of spirituality…” (Pg. 15-16)
He recalls that in the 1950s, “the number of communicants in a packed church amounted to only a few rows at the communion rail. Older and younger people predominated. Two or at most three priests could distribute communion at even the most crowded masses. Many Catholics attended Mass regularly but never went to communion. One learned not to ask why.” (Pg. 21-22) But after Vatican II, “communion in the hand was permitted… Communion rails were removed. The tabernacle was moved… to a side altar or special chapel. The ‘feel’ of Catholic churches changed dramatically… the focus shifted to the altar of sacrifice, to the ‘action’ of the eucharistic banquet rather then the ‘static’ presence of the reserved sacrament.” (Pg. 25)
He recounts, “If there was a discrepancy between Catholics who went to Mass and those who received communion, the gap was larger between Catholics who went to confession and those who did not. The reasons for the latter [might be]… an unresolved marital situation, a sin too embarrassing to confess… or a bad experience with a priest in a prior confession. But… what Catholics commonly confessed as mortal sin---usually involved … missing Mass on Sunday, eating meat on Friday, and almost everything regarding sex.” (Pg. 28)
He acknowledges, “The number of seminarians plummeted between 1967-1981… At the same time, the number of priests leaving active ministry rose dramatically… There was a symmetry to these numbers, and they delivered a simple message. The priesthood was a vocation one could, perhaps should abandon… If there was one large factor that abetted this lateral drift, it was the outstanding issue of celibacy. The papacy of Paul VI had seemingly shot its last effective bolt … with "Humanae Vitae'… his papacy… could no longer answer big questions with a firm and authoritative voice. Nowhere was this more evident than in regard to… celibacy and its continuance…” (Pg. 40-41)
Of the sexual abuse crisis, he reports, “the New York Times assembled a study… In capsule form: ‘Most of the abuse occurred in the 1970s and 1980s… The number of priests accused of abuse declines sharply by the 1990s… the most significant part of the study is the parallel drawn between the cases of abuse and the ordination class of the abusers. The largest number of abusers were ordained in the years before and just after the council… The largest spike occurs in the 1970s… What is the profile of the victims? 80% were male, 57% were teenagers, 6% were younger than the age of 12.” (Pg. 43) He adds, “Just as it is perilous to merge priestly sexual abuse with the larger topic of homosexuality in the clergy, it is equally impossible to separate the two.” (Pg. 44)
He observes, “two generations ago, a man ordained at age 25 in a large diocese looked forward to a 20-year apprenticeship as a curate before becoming a pastor. That situation has radically changed. In many dioceses, a newly ordained priest can expect a stint of three to five years before he becomes a pastor. This has direct implications for the seminary. The seminary must endeavor to train men not just as priests but as PASTORS almost from the start.” (Pg. 58)
He explains. “former priests John J. Geoghan and Paul Shanley made a deep impression… Shanley began as an activist ‘street priest’… One of his causes was … NAMBLA…. Geoghan’s mild exterior camouflaged a sexual predator with a prodigious appetite for children. Geoghan and Shanley provided a template that slipped over the picture of other American priests. Would you now trust your teenagers with a priest? This was the question that priests now faced. The burden is on them to prove otherwise.” (Pg. 101-102)
He recounts, “On Pope John Paul’s second visit to Poland in 1983, he found his homeland under martial law, the Solidarity movement in disarray. A disheartened mood hung over the entire country… The effect of the Pope’s words on his demoralized Polish flock was electrifying… he challenged his congregation to call good and evil by name. There was no mistaking what he meant. Then he softly said ‘Solidarity’… He was well on his way to broadening its meaning in all directions. In John Paul’s preaching, it came to symbolize essential elements of the church’s social teaching, a new consciousness, a way of life.” (Pg. 169)
He recounts, “when [in 1967] Mass was said in English, Father Richard Finster … felt that people were staring at him when he said Mass. And so they were. But he didn’t care for it one bit. He felt affronted and confused. He felt that people wanted something from him. He wasn’t sure what it was or how to give it. Worse, he felt what he did have to offer was no longer needed. When the new Mass of Paul VI emerged in 1970, it was clear that a paradigm shift had taken place, radically and irrevocably reshaping the roles of both priest and people.” (Pg. 187)
He concludes, “We now carry the legacy of Vatican II into its third generation. At the beginning of the journey, we often spoke about a pilgrim people and the phrase carried an upbeat note. Now we sometimes resemble weary travelers on the high sea without land in sight, the children of Israel… pining for the fleshpots of Egypt, which they were happy to leave a scant generation ago. But the task of carrying forward the reforms of a great council remains a bracing challenge, broad enough to span generations, joining them together in a sense of common purpose. Is this not what we need at the present moment?” (Pg. 214)
This book will be of keen interest to those studying the contemporary priesthood, and how it has changed.
Howard Bleichner (1937-2022) was a Sulpician priest who also taught theology at Catholic colleges and seminaries. He wrote in the Introduction to this 2004 book, “This book on priestly formation and priestly spirituality was begun a year after the tragedy of September 11, 2001, and nine months after the sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church began to unfold… a word on each [of those events] seems … unavoidable.. With the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York City, a long war has opened that will irrevocably mark the future… Beginning in January 2002, the Archdiocese of Boston became the epicenter of sexual abuse scandals that spread across the United States… the sexual abuse scandals have struck the Catholic Church in the United States with the force of a tsunami… In only six months, the priesthood seemed to melt from a widely respected vocation to a suspect calling, tarnished by a broad-based suspicion of child abuse and populated largely by gay men.” (Pg. 13-15)
He explains, “Ultimately, this essay is not about priestly misconduct but about priestly spirituality in an ancient and honored vocation that finds itself at a critical moment. But without a credible interpretation of recent events, the road to the main topic is blocked… It will take a hard-fought battle through difficult terrain to reach an upland where we can credibly turn to the subject of priestly formation… [This book] is for seminarians, priests, and bishops, but also for a wider audience of Catholics now more interested in how priests are formed. They also wish to make sense of the sexual abuse scandals… [The book] is also an essay of spirituality…” (Pg. 15-16)
He recalls that in the 1950s, “the number of communicants in a packed church amounted to only a few rows at the communion rail. Older and younger people predominated. Two or at most three priests could distribute communion at even the most crowded masses. Many Catholics attended Mass regularly but never went to communion. One learned not to ask why.” (Pg. 21-22) But after Vatican II, “communion in the hand was permitted… Communion rails were removed. The tabernacle was moved… to a side altar or special chapel. The ‘feel’ of Catholic churches changed dramatically… the focus shifted to the altar of sacrifice, to the ‘action’ of the eucharistic banquet rather then the ‘static’ presence of the reserved sacrament.” (Pg. 25)
He recounts, “If there was a discrepancy between Catholics who went to Mass and those who received communion, the gap was larger between Catholics who went to confession and those who did not. The reasons for the latter [might be]… an unresolved marital situation, a sin too embarrassing to confess… or a bad experience with a priest in a prior confession. But… what Catholics commonly confessed as mortal sin---usually involved … missing Mass on Sunday, eating meat on Friday, and almost everything regarding sex.” (Pg. 28)
He acknowledges, “The number of seminarians plummeted between 1967-1981… At the same time, the number of priests leaving active ministry rose dramatically… There was a symmetry to these numbers, and they delivered a simple message. The priesthood was a vocation one could, perhaps should abandon… If there was one large factor that abetted this lateral drift, it was the outstanding issue of celibacy. The papacy of Paul VI had seemingly shot its last effective bolt … with "Humanae Vitae'… his papacy… could no longer answer big questions with a firm and authoritative voice. Nowhere was this more evident than in regard to… celibacy and its continuance…” (Pg. 40-41)
Of the sexual abuse crisis, he reports, “the New York Times assembled a study… In capsule form: ‘Most of the abuse occurred in the 1970s and 1980s… The number of priests accused of abuse declines sharply by the 1990s… the most significant part of the study is the parallel drawn between the cases of abuse and the ordination class of the abusers. The largest number of abusers were ordained in the years before and just after the council… The largest spike occurs in the 1970s… What is the profile of the victims? 80% were male, 57% were teenagers, 6% were younger than the age of 12.” (Pg. 43) He adds, “Just as it is perilous to merge priestly sexual abuse with the larger topic of homosexuality in the clergy, it is equally impossible to separate the two.” (Pg. 44)
He observes, “two generations ago, a man ordained at age 25 in a large diocese looked forward to a 20-year apprenticeship as a curate before becoming a pastor. That situation has radically changed. In many dioceses, a newly ordained priest can expect a stint of three to five years before he becomes a pastor. This has direct implications for the seminary. The seminary must endeavor to train men not just as priests but as PASTORS almost from the start.” (Pg. 58)
He explains. “former priests John J. Geoghan and Paul Shanley made a deep impression… Shanley began as an activist ‘street priest’… One of his causes was … NAMBLA…. Geoghan’s mild exterior camouflaged a sexual predator with a prodigious appetite for children. Geoghan and Shanley provided a template that slipped over the picture of other American priests. Would you now trust your teenagers with a priest? This was the question that priests now faced. The burden is on them to prove otherwise.” (Pg. 101-102)
He recounts, “On Pope John Paul’s second visit to Poland in 1983, he found his homeland under martial law, the Solidarity movement in disarray. A disheartened mood hung over the entire country… The effect of the Pope’s words on his demoralized Polish flock was electrifying… he challenged his congregation to call good and evil by name. There was no mistaking what he meant. Then he softly said ‘Solidarity’… He was well on his way to broadening its meaning in all directions. In John Paul’s preaching, it came to symbolize essential elements of the church’s social teaching, a new consciousness, a way of life.” (Pg. 169)
He recounts, “when [in 1967] Mass was said in English, Father Richard Finster … felt that people were staring at him when he said Mass. And so they were. But he didn’t care for it one bit. He felt affronted and confused. He felt that people wanted something from him. He wasn’t sure what it was or how to give it. Worse, he felt what he did have to offer was no longer needed. When the new Mass of Paul VI emerged in 1970, it was clear that a paradigm shift had taken place, radically and irrevocably reshaping the roles of both priest and people.” (Pg. 187)
He concludes, “We now carry the legacy of Vatican II into its third generation. At the beginning of the journey, we often spoke about a pilgrim people and the phrase carried an upbeat note. Now we sometimes resemble weary travelers on the high sea without land in sight, the children of Israel… pining for the fleshpots of Egypt, which they were happy to leave a scant generation ago. But the task of carrying forward the reforms of a great council remains a bracing challenge, broad enough to span generations, joining them together in a sense of common purpose. Is this not what we need at the present moment?” (Pg. 214)
This book will be of keen interest to those studying the contemporary priesthood, and how it has changed.
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