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Goodbye! Good Men: How Catholic Seminaries Turned Away Two Generations of Vocations From the Priesthood

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Michael Rose has discovered the hidden virus which has produced a generation or two of destroyed vocations, disillusioned and demoralized clergy and even some cases of psychological, emotional, spiritual and sadly even some cases of sexual abuse or misconduct. As a someone who endured 12 years of high school, college and major seminary, I can attest to the fact that me and my colleagues experienced the best and the worst. "Goodbye! Good Men" exposes the triad of the evil beast, namely, BAD theology, BAD liturgy and BAD morals. The present climate and media frenzy focuses exclusively on the sex scandals but that is only one third of the monster. Heterodox theology taught by dissident theologians, combined with liturgical abuses and irreverence have given the green light and philosophical imprimatur for immoral behavior and activity. If the Magisterium can be disregarded and if the rubrics of the Mass can be discarded, then it is only logical to proceed and violate the natural law as well. SAD REALITY is that there were MANY good, holy, orthodox and very moral priests, professors, rectors, faculty and seminarians in all the seminaries I attended but their legacy was eclipsed by the dissent, disobedience and immorality of a few of their own colleagues. I had several exemplary priests at Saint Marks and at Mary Immaculate, both Diocesan and Religious, but it was some of their contemporaries who distorted doctrine, diluted morals and treated the Sacred with disdain who left a lasting wound on many GOOD MEN. Thankfully, in my case, the culprits are gone (left the ministry, the priesthood or are no longer alive) and the former institutions who employed them are no more or under new, improved, reliable and better management. This is not the case in all seminaries and dioceses, though.

Those 'good men' whose vocations were destroyed, those of us who were persecuted for our fidelity to Rome and the good priests who tried their best to faithfully teach the truth and who actually gave good example by living holy lives; all these are also victims along with the People of God who are subjected in many places to heterodox homilies, liturgical nonsense and inappropriate behavior from some of their priests.

Abandoning celibacy, ordaining women or any of the other pseudo-panaceas will not treat the disease and neither are they valid cures or treatment, either. Sound doctrine, reverent worship and an enforced moral code of behavior will produce healthy, balanced, safe and dependable priests to serve the Church and her faithful members. Anything less is a disservice to the seminarians, the bishops who sent them and the people they will hopefully serve one day as spiritual shepherds. "Goodbye! Good Men" just doesn't identify the tumor but it proposes the cure as mentioned above. Instead of attacking the messenger and the message, we should look at the situation as it is and realize that the problem is an old one, a painful one but it is still, by God's grace, one that can be corrected and conquered.

Most books on controversial subject matter embody a certain element of overkill to prove their point but Michael Rose is 'shockingly on the mark' with, Good Bye! Good Men. Many in Detroit have lived through what Mr Rose describes in his book. A close friend was subjected to professional psychological counseling for a year (at his own expense) and needed none. The final report read, This client did not need counseling and has no sign of pathology or abnormality. Basically, he was just too Catholic. The current sexual crisis in Holy Mother Church clearly shows what the Liberalism of 1960-1985 produced. This brand of mis-guided and unholy leadership never results in reform or progress. Through the concerted efforts of current Rector, Bishop Allen Vigneron, Sacred Heart Seminary is healing from what I call "Metastatic Liberalism" and today continues to heal and grow in Grace and in Favor with God and Man. Glory to God!.....a student

This book gets at the hidden roots of the spiritual malaise in American Catholicism, especially in the priesthood. It notes the sexual decadence and theological heresy that has suffocated many a seminary and many a diocese. The extensive documentation is often painful reading of a spiritual and academic elite that has completely lost its moral bearings. Most heartbreaking are the accounts of sacerdotal vocations destroyed by a formation bureaucracy that will only award dissent and moral laxity. The proposed remedy of genuine moral reform is as convincing as is the portait of the decadence of Amchurch.

This is a book not to be dismissed lightly. The author doesn't engage in name-calling or finger-pointing. He makes his statements and backs them up carefully - so much so that it's hard to imagine that anyone could dispute his findings. Mr. Rose has done the Church a great service by shining a spotlight on a very unpleasant problem, and one that needs to be addressed immediately.

Michael Rose could not have put together a more timely book. Goodbye! Good Men exposes the degradation and immorality found at several Catholic seminaries and through first-person accounts explain how faithful priestly candidates over the past two decades have been turned away.

Rose, familiar to most through his work profiling the "wreckovations" performed in Catholic cathedrals and parishes in his books, The Renovation Manipulation and Ugly as Sin, does a bang-up job profiling the depths of sexual perversion rampant in major U.S. seminaries. The book is not for the faint of heart.

The book goes a long way in explaining the recent sexual scandals plaguing the Church. Those shocked by the scandals, will be even more shocked when they read the book. If even a portion of what Rose documents is true, the worst is yet to come.

Rose has brought back the inside story on the collapse on vocations within the Catholic Church in America. He has provided overwhelming documentation on how the elite centers of American Catholicism, especially the most presigious seminaries, have fostered moral depravity and religious dissent over several decades. He also shows that the few seminaries showing signs of demographic and spiritual vitality are those that adhere strictly to the doctrinal teaching of the magisterium and to the ascetical traditions of Catholicism.
His book is a call to renounce the fatalism that has clouded American Catholic thinking over the decades. Our problem is not simply the materialism and skepticism of our coulture. Our problem lies in ourselves, in our refusal to embrace a roubst Catholicism with all of its moral demands and all of its spiritual beauty. Rose is exactly on target in arguing that the solution to our crisis is not the failed effort to refashion our faith in the image of liberal Protestantism. The solution is a militant, prophetic Catholicism capable of sustaining the sacrifice of an entire life.

Yes, every Catholic should read this book. Why? It's all true. I experienced most of the horrors detailed in this book at a seminary located on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in the early 1980's. Yes, that place is something other than what most of you perceive. Hopefully, someone will give this book to Pope John Paul.

Michael Rose's devastating reportage on the moral and spiritual implosion of many Catholic seminaries confirms anecdotal evidence I have gathered by talking to ex-seminarians and orthodox Catholic pshychologists. Many seminaries are hot houses of sexual activity where orthodox heterosexual men with genuine vocations are distinctly vulnerable. These good men are often treated in a manner reminiscent of how the Soviet Union once dealt with dissidents. This is not an exaggeration. Many bishops have been grossly negligent in their oversight of these institutions. The more people who read this book, the more likely it is that something can be done.

Someone had to write this book. The Church has been infected with a cancer called the homosexual agenda and Rose exposes it at its source - the Catholic seminary where priests are formed.

In a brutally candid style, Rose uncovers the depth, breadth and intensity of this 'gay agenda' that will be at times difficult to read, even for those who have recognized its impact in many of today's Catholic parishes and liturgies.

Half way through the book, one has to wonder how the Church can recover from the relentless efforts to erode all that Catholics believe. However, there is good, reassuring news as you continue to read to the end. This book you cannot put down and it is in my opinion a 'MUST READ' for all Catholics and non-Catholics interested in the true battle raging inside the Catholic Church today.

Thank God that this book has finally been written. Scripture says that the truth will set us free. For the young men, the heterosexual/orthodox seminarians like my son(who are in the minority in some seminaries), I pray that every Catholic will read this because this book shows it like it is.... perhaps not in every seminary but in some and that is too many lost vocations. The crisis in priestly vocations in America will not abate until and unless the seminaries here are purged of the teachers sowing dissent and seminary formation staff members which crucify orthodox seminarians. Thank you Mr. Rose