Window Quarterly Vol. I, No. 4, 1990 Copyright 1990 [Permission is granted to use, print, reproduce this article provided the following acknowledgment is given: From Window Quarterly 1, 4 (1990); ACRAG c. 1990. *** Priests Do Not Fall From Heaven by Michael Findikyan ================================= HELP WANTED: P R I E S T - Armenian Church -- American Diocese of an historic eastern Orthodox Church seeking highly motivated, dynamic and committed self-starters to develop and implement marketing strategies with respect to the Christian faith and its traditional expression in the Armenian context. Responsibilities will involve managing all facets of church life in parish communities, including coordination and direction of liturgical services, counselling, development of youth and geriatric programs, teaching, lecturing, preaching, preparing reports, working with committees, crisis intervention, development of funding sources, clerical work, community relations, editing of weekly/monthly parish periodicals, supervision and motivation of volunteer staff. The ideal candidate will demonstrate unshakable faith and possess proven leadership and organizational abilities, superior interpersonal skills, excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Armenian. Working knowledge of Classical Armenian, word processing and database also required. A flair for creativity and innovation helpful. Master's degree, clinical experience and min. 2 years residency/apprenticeship required. Must be eager to work nights and weekends. Salary not necessarily commensurate with education, experience and particular parish resources. Send resume to Human Resource Dept., Diocese of the Armenian Church New York, Los Angeles, Montreal. =========================================== The above ad has not yet appeared in the New York Times, but it may, unless the Armenian Church soon accepts the reality that she is on the threshold of a clergy shortage of crisis proportions. At present more than thirty parishes in the three North American dioceses have no full-time priest. These include parishes of all sizes, from small, developing "mission" parishes to parishes in major American cities comprising hundreds of Armenian families. In addition, within ten years 40% of the clergy presently serving the North American dioceses will be retired. A large number are currently of retirement age, but continue to work because there are no available priests to replace them--and there are precious few on the horizon. Consider the largest Armenian diocese in the diaspora, the Eastern Diocese of America. According to data in the Diocese's 1990 Parish Directory (New York: July, 1990), the diocese presently encompasses 40 active parishes, seven of which have no full-time priest. This means that in order to provide one priest for each active parish in the Eastern Diocese, seven priests are needed immediately. Beyond that, to maintain one priest in every parish of the Diocese, the Armenian Church must recruit, train and ordain one to two new priests every year for the next ten years. This plan provides only the absolute minimum number of priests. It does not take into account the diocese's 12 "mission" parishes, young communities which are growing toward full parish status. These "mission" parishes are currently served in part by clergy who visit from nearby and not-so-nearby parishes. These priests are expected to provide for the liturgical and pastoral needs of the mission parishes in addition to their regular full-time home parish responsibilities. Neither does it provide for adequate staffing of the very large parishes in Boston, New York, Detroit and elsewhere, where even two or three full-time priests are not enough to meet all of the parishes' liturgical, sacramental, educational and pastoral needs. The plan also ignores the need for clergy in non-parish positions such as education, youth ministry and administration, to name a few. In the last ten years only five parish priests have been ordained for service in the Eastern Diocese. This is woefully short of the projected number of new priests needed in the Diocese, to maintain even the current deficient levels. With the supply of clerical leaders in the Church dwindling, the very existence of the Armenian Church in America is in jeopardy in the coming decades. Where will the Church's new priests come from? Formerly the Armenian seminaries in Jerusalem; in Etchmiadzin, Armenia; and in Antelias, Lebanon supplied the overwhelming majority of priests for the American dioceses. But for various reasons, the number of priests arriving in America from these seminaries has all but shut down. In the last ten years, the Seminary of Holy Etchmiadzin supplied only two priests to the Eastern Diocese; the Seminary of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem provided one. Faced with their own particular vicissitudes (not the least of which being the dramatic growth of the Church in Armenia), the Armenian seminaries abroad are challenged at the mere prospect of providing clergy for their own needs, much less those of the American dioceses. In short, the Armenian seminaries abroad may no longer be considered an endless source of priests for the Armenian Church in America. Providing adequate numbers of qualified priests to serve the churches in America is no longer the problem of far-away ecclesiastical authorities. The recruitment, training and ordination of priests must now become (indeed should have become years ago) the concern, the business and the responsibility of the Church in America- -of the hierarchy in America, of the priests, and of all of those who consider themselves children of the Armenian Church. The clergy shortage in the Armenian Church in America is clearly related to a larger phenomenon being experienced by many religious groups in the United States. A 1989 New York Times article brought to light the concern of Jews, Catholics, and various Protestant denominations alike, that the number of entrants to the clergy is on a sharp decline ("Shortage of Entrants to the Clergy Causing Alarm for U. S. Religions," July 9, 1989). The article credits among other things, the so-called "Me Generation" of young adults who are shunning human service careers including the priesthood, in favor of more financially lucrative professions. There is no question that young Armenians growing up in America in the 1980's are influenced by this trend away from community, ethnic and spiritual awareness and concern. Like the vast majority of their American peers, our Armenian young people are choosing their professions in a single- minded pursuit of financial success, with the misguided belief that it alone will breed complete fulfillment and meaning in life. Responding naturally to their own collective memory of the tragedies of genocide, Armenians have a particular instinct to steer their children toward careers which will lead to financial independence. But there are other factors particular to the Armenian Church which are responsible for the tragic decline in the number of qualified young men considering priesthood. Among our people there prevails a negative perception of priests, a distorted mindset which does more to discourage talented young men from considering the vocation of the priesthood than any force in our society. It is a throwback to the village priest, uneducated but basically good-hearted, who worked once a week for whatever spare change and food handouts the villagers could muster that week. The village priest was nevertheless given some degree of honor as one who knew the mystical and mysterious rites of the Church, and as one who provided an essential service to the community: baptisms, weddings and funerals. A talentless beggar--hardly the inspiring model for an upwardly mobile, future-oriented generation of American youth. And surprisingly it is a prevailing attitude. I cannot count the number of well- intentioned Armenians who, when they discovered that I wanted to become a priest, exclaimed, "But you're such a smart boy. You could choose any career," as if only helpless waifs become priests. It is curious that our people remember the image of the village priest, and not of the countless priests in our history who became charismatic leaders, intellectuals, writers, musicians, builders, teachers, and theologians. Our people are either unable, or refuse to see the potential for greatness and excellence in the priest, and in the Church. As a people who have suffered through centuries of occupation and oppression, we have become stuck on, and content with mediocrity. When we begin to show our young people the greatness of the Church; the dynamic power by which our Armenian Church's unique expression of the Christian faith can touch and inspire a person, strengthen and give meaning to his or her life, and provide hope and joy in a hopeless and troubled world filled with despair and loneliness, then our young men will be more willing to be a part of this good work as priests in the Armenian Church. Our youth will not come forward, however, until the hierarchy makes the recruitment of priests a priority. As shepherds to the flock, the bishops have an obligation to provide for the assured and continued life and growth of the Church. Seeking out and encouraging talented young men to consider choosing the profession of priesthood in the Armenian Church must be one of the bishop's fundamental goals in the administration of his diocese; it must be a regular theme whenever and wherever the bishop addresses his people, especially at convocations of youth. The bishop must involve himself completely in efforts to attract and train young men for the priesthood. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. Over the years our bishops seem to have proceeded from the premise that seminary candidates will spontaneously come forth from the youth, without active recruiting efforts by the Church hierarchy and leadership. Sermons, speeches, articles and programs related to the priesthood and other church vocations are all but non-existent. There is no Catholic diocese in the country which does not have a Director of Church Vocations to oversee the important work of actively seeking out and advising prospective priests and other church workers. No such position exists, or has ever been contemplated in any of the American dioceses of the Armenian Church. The only institution for recruiting and training Armenian priests in America, St. Nersess Armenian Seminary, has received only lukewarm support from the hierarchy. The failure of the hierarchy to recognize and to respond to the clergy shortage in America is yet another bitter consequence of the crippling short-sightedness demonstrated by the Church leadership in America in virtually all phases of its administration. I fear that our Church is wandering into the 21st century with little sense of direction or purpose, satisfied merely by its day to day survival, and by the accomplishments of our ancestors centuries ago. It is high time for the Armenian Church to objectively and critically assess her place in America, to define her purpose and mission and to chart a course for the future, directing all of her efforts and energies toward the fulfillment of these goals. Until the Church is able to concisely articulate her raison d'etre, the ends toward which she is striving and her specific plan of action to attain those ends, she can never hope to engage the hopes, and dreams, the talents and professional goals of our young people as they make career decisions. In this future-oriented society, few young men will eagerly step forward to devote their lives to the service of a Church or any institution which exists exclusively as a curator of ancient traditions and past glories. When the hierarchy begins to use the history and traditions of the Armenian Church as a point of departure, rather than as an end in itself; when the bishops feel ready to move on from an attitude of preservation and conservatism to an attitude of risk-taking, creativity, challenge and growth, then we will have a Church which breeds qualified leaders in abundance. Attracting talented men to become priests in the Armenian Church is a task which demands the attention of the entire Church community: the bishops and priests, as well as all of the faithful children of the Church. Priests do not fall from heaven. Neither does a young man devote his life to the Church as the result of a sudden, lightning bolt of divine intervention, or by perusing the Help Wanted section of the New York Times. Tomorrow's Armenian priests are our altar servers, our choir members; our sons, grandsons and brothers whose devotion to God is nurtured and cultivated in a loving Armenian Church community, in which our ancient faith is made vital and relevant to the people. *** =================================================== _ _ _ _ _ |_| ___ _| | ___ _ _ _ | | | | | | _ / _ \ / _ | / _ \ | | | | | | | |_| |_| || |_ | | | || |_| || |_| || |_| |_| | \_________/\___||_| |_| \___/ \___/ \_________/ View Of The Armenian Church ===================================================