The (now present) "Bishop Crunch"

A great article now available online discussing the present "bishop crunch" happing in the U.S.:

Introductory note: This article first appeared in 1995 as E. Peters, "The coming bishop crunch", Homiletic & Pastoral Review (November 1995) 15-19. I have been asked for copies many times since, but cross-country moves and several computer changes made that impossible. What follows is the original article very kindly transcribed by Richard Chonak. I thought it best to release it here just as it appeared, even though, obviously, some of the predictions have not "come true". (Most of the predictions that did not "come true", did not precisely for the reasons I suggested they might not, primarily, acceleration of open sees). Moreover, the stop gap remedy of simply ignoring Canon 401 is in full use today; its formalization is being debated by advisors to the pope as we speak. In any case, the underlying problems outlined in my 1995 article are plainly still with us, and most of the suggestions for dealing with the bishop crunch are still available. What the Holy Spirit wants to do with this, we shall see...enp, March 2006.

[read the article]