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Summary: The Bishops' REAL Agenda
Review: This is the topic the Bishops should have addressed in Dallas. The root of the current problem in the Church is the twofold devastation of many seminaries, as described by Rose -- dissident "theology" and homosexuality. Unfortunately, I think that those who should be reading it (our Bishops) will ignore it. We do not have a shortage of vocations, but rather a shortage of seminary acceptance of applicants with vocations who are not willing to toe the dissident line.
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Summary: Goodbye Good Men: OH SO TRUE!!
Review: Any person who reads this book and does not reflect upon it is in total denial. Was this written by a conservative person? Absolutely. But what everyone must remember is that the truth is an absolute; and if the truth in this book hurts and critiques those who consider themselves liberal, then so be it.The Catholic Church has been damaged severely as a result of misguided agendas the past 35 years but it is not dead. I commend Michael Rose for stepping up to plate and writing this book. It is the first step of many that is needed to correct the wrongs that have invaded the Church. It is time to get back to the basic premise of what the Catholic Church is all about: adhering to the teachings of Christ as guide to your life. Those who dedicate their lives to this premise (priests, nuns, etc.) truly need to rededicate themselves to this mission.
It's not about political agendas; it's about charity and good works towards others. We are not perfect and we will make mistakes but we should never forget why we are Catholics and what our charge on Earth is. I consider this book as a reminder to that. I also challenge anyone who thinks this book is a sham to actually do something Christlike for someone who truly needs help. That feeling of accomplished charity may actually open their eyes to what the Church is all about. Bravo to Michael Rose.
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Summary: What a disgrace! Garbage
Review: I thought this book was garbage. This book hurts with their lies. Its a pity. I will tell all not to waste their money ar their time with this book.
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Summary: A Good Book That Hits the Nail on the Head about Catholics
Review: A well written and documented book. The problems will not go away in the Church until homosexuals are purged from the ranks of power within the Church. This issue has vindicated the Boy Scouts of America by not allowing homosexuals to be in positions of leadership around male children. Catholics have to follow their example or the American Church will be dissolved. Anyone who claims to be a "real" Catholic cannot stand by and see their Church destroyed in front of them. Our seminaries have to start teaching orthodox Catholic beliefs again or they should be dissolved. The challenge is there, its time for orthodox Catholics to begin demanding action to clean up our hierarchy and get normal straight people into the leadership and get back to real Catholic teaching again.
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Summary: Right On!
Review: I give this book five stars for its forthright honest assessment of the current scandalous condition of the Church in the United States today, and because the book is written in a way that any laymen can comprehend the root cause of the scandals at hand. The accuracy of Michael Rose's account is called to question by several commentaries posted here at Amazon, as well as numerous priests and bishops. My first hand knowledge of facts about our parish and former pastor, expounded on two pages in the book make me believe in the overall accuracy of the book. An "orthodox" Catholic friend of mine recently attended one of the seminaries mentioned on three occasions in the book and he verifies the sad state of affairs in that institute. I challenge those skeptical about the accuracy of the book to simply go to the Web sites of the seminaries noted in the book. Compare the "Mission Statements" of the seminaries that Michael Rose is critical of, verses the ones he praises. Also look at the faculty at the different schools. Finally, I would recommend reading the last three chapter first, because the first three fourths of the book can be outright depressing, while the final chapters do provide some optimism about the Church's future.
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Summary: The answer to the "Vocations Crisis"
Review: I am 35 years old and once seriously considered a Church vocation. However, I chose guard my faith and stay away from the Seminary and the Monastery. This book explains why I, and many others, would make a statement like. Finally a book that takes the mask off the "Vocations Crisis" and the sex scandals that we see in the Church. As Bishop Curtiss indicates in the book, the "Vocations Crisis" is artificial and contrived. Those who want to "reinvision" the Priesthood and the Catholic Faith, for that matter, have created it. The "Vocations Crisis" is only a symptom of the problem we are experiencing in the Church. The problem is a loss of faith resulting from liberal reforms that were introduced into the Church in the past three decades. Michael Rose shows how liberals offer more of the same idiotic solutions that fuel this crisis as a solution to it. Married priests, ordination of women, lay ministers and even lay run parishes. This book exposes the effectiveness of these moronic solutions. Michael Rose effectively proves that the exact opposite approach attracts, develops and fosters vocations. The elements of this approach are tradition and orthodoxy. The few Dioceses that have orthodox Bishops do not have vocations crises. It is painfully obvious when a person looks at those seminaries that train Priests exclusively for the Tridentine Rite that orthodoxy is the mother of vocations. The only problem these seminaries have is a lack of room to house all the seminarians that apply. If the Catholic faithful only knew the truth! The "Catholicism" that the average person in the pew experiences on Sunday is a pathetic disgrace. Michael Rose demonstrates that this state of affairs will change when orthodox Priests are placed in the parishes. In order to accomplish this, seminaries must accept orthodox young men. But first the feminist Nun with a hidden agenda must be removed from the vocations director position and replaced with an orthodox Priest that loves the faith. Michael Rose exposes the fact that "The very officials who are responsible for promoting and fostering vocations to the priesthood in the Catholic Church have been turning away qualified candidates for decades!" Thank you Michael!!!
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Summary: Finally
Review: I entered the Franciscans in California in my early 30's in order to pursue a vocation to the priesthood. I embraced my vows and dedicated myself completely to following Christ. However, I found that I was the only heterosexual in my novitiate class. With the spiritual guidance of a superior, I chose to stay for seven years and tried to understand and not judge those who were openly gay. The sad part is that these gay men demanded that their sexual orientation be not only accepted, but condoned even when they were sexually active. In our Berkeley house of studies, I was the lone straight man among 9 seminarians. I finally felt that I could not remain because I was treated and felt that I was an outsider. The gay culture was not what I was there for. If I protested what I saw, then my brothers told me I was homophobic or gay myself and couldn't face it. Perhaps I didn't actually have a true vocation. Perhaps I was at fault. But this book and other emerging evidence has revealed that there is indeed a gay culture dominating the seminaries and the priesthood that may drive out those who are not gay. I'm glad this secret is being made public. I have long wondered, for many years, if I was the only one who could see it. Now, finally, I am not alone. Thank you, Mr. Rose, and God bless you. The Church has been in denial too long.
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Summary: I should have believed my friend who warned me two years ago
Review: A friend of mine who entered an orthodox seminary two years ago warned me about a "homosexual problem" at St. John's Seminary in Brighton, MA (under Cardinal Law). I consider myself to be an orthodox Catholic but I wrote off his concerns as paranoia. Sadly, he seems to have understated the problem. In the book, Rose describes the case of one orthodox seminarian at St. John's who was sexually harassed by homosexual seminarians and whose allegations were ignored by the faculty to the point where he was forced to obtain a restraining order against the offending seminarian. Many similar cases are presented throughout the book which is largely a compilation of anecdotes. This does not constitute an indictment of the book. The book is not meant to be a sociological, statistical analysis of homosexuality in the priesthood, but rather an on-the-ground description of the situation in heterodox seminaries. The reader will get a sense of the oppressive atmosphere for orthodox seminarians in seminaries controlled by heterodox and/or homosexual cliques. In fact, one can deduce a pattern of networking and conspiracy amongst heterodox/homosexual priests and seminarians to root out orthodox candidates from the priesthood. The anecdotal evidence presented in the book is simply overwhelming, as is the fact that the vast majority of reported cases of sexual abuse by priests consists of the abuse of teenage boys, indicating that homosexuals comprise a disproportionate percentage of priests in comparison to their existence in the general population. Certainly homosexual priests are abusing teenage boys in far greater proportion than heterosexual priests are abusing teenage girls. This fact explains why this book is not getting general play in the media and why the scandal is generally portrayed as one of "pedophilia" rather than ephebophilia. But this book will help you to understand the nature and roots of this present crisis. (This book gets knocked down a star for its anecdotal nature, but five stars for its importance)
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Summary: Simply mind-boggling
Review: I'm a product of 16 years of Catholic education. For the past 15 years or so I've been told that we have a 'vocations crisis' within the Church -- that young men are no longer interested in becoming priests. A litany of reasons is given for this: young men are too materialistic today, celibacy is too difficult for us 'enlightened' moderns, young men don't agree with the Church's positions on moral issues, the Church hasn't done enough marketing, and (most disingenuous of all) leftover orthodoxy from the pre-Vatican II period is driving young men away. Those 'liberals' within the Church offer up a predictable laundry list of "solutions" for this 'vocations crisis': Married priests, priestesses, "lay ministers", etc. Until very recently, these ideas almost looked reasonable. Not anymore. This book positively blows the lid off of all the false reasons for the 'vocations crisis' and uncovers the shocking truth and hidden agendas behind what's going on in Catholic seminaries across the U.S. I used to think that a good Catholic fellow who believed and followed what the Church taught about such issues as abortion, contraception, homosexuality, the primacy of the Pope, transubstantiation, the immaculate conception, etc. would be a shoe-in for the priesthood. What this book demonstrates is that such devout young men are being routinely TURNED AWAY from the seminaries for no other reason than that they hold and believe these eminently orthodox positions! Who are being accepted in their places? I think the current and growing scandal within the Catholic Church in America provides a clear-cut answer. Now, institutionally, the Catholic Church in America is suffering an evisceration that Antonio Gramsci would be proud of. In short, if you are a Catholic and you honestly care about what's been happening within our Church and why, you simply can not ignore this book. It will be very difficult reading for many of you, but if we are to weed out the wolves-in-sheep's-clothing among our leaders, we must begin with an honest appraisal of the situation. This book offers just such an appraisal and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
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Summary: A Great Service to the Church
Review: Although this book has been critized for some of its research, over all the book performs a great service to the Church by making it difficult to continue denying the homosexual problem in the priesthood. It is well-written and calmly sets forth the case for a contrived vocations shortage due to a feminist and gay agenda in too many seminaries. The book is believable and persuasive. Its rhetoric is restrained. As Fr. Neuhaus of First Things(June/July 2002) has said, "even if the situation in vocation offices and seminaries is only half as bad as he suggests, it is very bad indeed" (p. 78). Those who would criticize its methodology and some of its anecdotes should ask themselves why they did not put their own knowledge to good use and write this long overdue book themselves as a needed service to the Church. Such critics engage in overkill by straining at a gnat but swallowing a camel. Michael Rose deserves praise and gratitude for undertaking a thankless task that too many of us did not care to pursue. Its flaws should not overshadow its prophetic message.
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