Just a point of clarification on my earlier post. I was not trying to argue, that "liberal Catholicism" was responsible for the decline in vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

My point was rather that most of those who are entering seminaries, monasteries and houses of formation these days can hardly be described as "liberal Catholics." This point has been made so often in the pages of Commonweal in recent years that I expected my assertion to be uncontroversial. If my prose was convoluted enough to give a different impression, please accept my apologies.

It may be true, as Margaret suggests in a comment, that liberal Catholicism has given rise to other kinds of vocations. As a married layman involved in prison ministry who is currently studying theology, I'm obviously in no position to argue! But I do believe that the relative under-representation of "Commonweal Catholics" among the ranks of the younger clergy and religious is something that is worth pondering seriously.

And now I think I'll shut up for a few days...:-)