Proof the Economy's Sunk and Not Rising Any Time Soon

It's been traditional for two millenia, after all. It's free housing, meals and healthcare for life, with much less chance of dying than in the military. The celibacy's a bitch, of course, but my guess is the seminary teaches that one with a wink.

The Archdiocese of Louisville is seeing an increase in men studying for the priesthood, a dramatic reversal of a trend earlier in this decade when the pool of prospects shrank to all but zero.

Seventeen men from the archdiocese are now in seminary, the most since the early 1990s, church leaders say.

And St. Meinrad School of Theology in Southern Indiana — which trains many future priests for dioceses in Kentucky, Indiana and throughout the country — is reporting its highest enrollment in two decades as it strains to find classroom and living space for the influx of seminarians and other students.

Read the whole thing.