AEUROPEAN "pool" of priests who could be switched to points on the Continent where they are most needed was suggested this week by Mgr. Franz Jachym, Coadjutor Archbishop of Vienna.
Not enough young men are being attracted to the priesthood throughout Europe, and most of the priests now serving are too old, he said.
"Of the 296 priests in the Archdiocese of Vienna, for instartee," he ne
declared, "one-third are over 60 years of age and were ordained before ss ss
1918. They no longer possess the physical energy to carry out their tasks."
It is therefore necessary to make up for the lack of priests by calling upon laymen for cooperation, and to direct new forces into the right channels. he said.
Jachym suggested a European "pool" of priests from all countries, so that they could be concentrated at the most important on the he continent to counterbalance the decline in numbers.
Many people, he said. believe that this is the best way to overcome the problem. Others say that the priests of tomorrow must be filled with the missionary, spirit of Catholic action,
and must regard their duties as social as well as ecclesiastic. "The freedom and dignity of men been the most have always bet important principles," he declared, "and the Church intends to protect them in the future as in the past. "But it does not intend to fight for certain forms of principles. It will fight for principles, but not for their bourgeois forms. The Church is not the protector of a dying form of society."