NEW DELHI (UCAN) -- Some Church leaders in India say many priests in India suffer from intellectual inadequacy, careerism and loneliness, problems that affect their ministry.

Lack of motivation and alcoholism are also problems, Archbishop Marampudi Joji of Hyderabad told UCA News ahead of an Asia-wide bishops' seminar on Caring for Priests -- Especially those in Difficult Situations.

The Office of Clergy of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conference (FABC) is conducting the Aug. 27-Sept. 1 seminar in Pattaya, southeastern Thailand.

The archbishop, who is based in Hyderabad, capital of Andhra Pradesh state, 1,400 kilometers south of New Delhi, said the solution to most problems is counseling. The prelate, who is attending the seminar, added that he would identify good counselors for his priests.

Bishop Govindu Joji of Nalgonda, also in Andhra Pradesh and also attending the seminar, told UCA News the problems that priests in the state face are "more or less the same" as problems faced by priests elsewhere. But he did not elaborate.

Father Anthoniraj Thumma said many parish priests feel "lonely," which leads to a "tendency to form interest and even caste groups." Other senior priests highlighted the same issue.

From Goa, western India, this concern was echoed by Jesuit Father Braz Faleiro, who has been a priest for more than 50 years, and Father Saturnino Dias, executive secretary of the FABC Office of Evangelization.

Father Dias said a priest should have friends "among priests, otherwise he tends to approach laypersons."

According to Father Y.M. Joseph, a senior priest in Andhra Pradesh, the formation priests receive is academically and pastorally insufficient to meet the demands of their ministry.

Candidates should be screened for their motivation, he told UCA News, adding that he doubts the genuineness of the vocation of some priests.

For some, priestly ministry ends when money and power considerations take over, he said, wondering if some people regard the priesthood as just another career.

Father Paul Thelakkat, official spokesperson of the Syro-Malabar Church, based in Kochi, in southern India's Kerala state, says the new generation of priests are intellectually weak and not well informed about social realities.

Many young priests "find it difficult to interact meaningfully with knowledgeable laypeople," he observed, saying the habit of reading is also "going down" in seminaries. In his view, "only below-average students are getting into the seminaries" today, not the "best minds" as in the past.

Father A. Adappoor, a senior priest in Kerala, told UCA News the fall in standards is not limited to the clergy. "When the whole social system is degenerating, it will be reflected in the clergy too," he remarked.

"Earlier, clerical formation was more intellectually oriented and demanding. All the textbooks were in Latin. But today the texts are in English. So anybody who is keen to acquire knowledge can access it," he said. "It depends on one's willingness."

On the other hand, Father Kandula Charles, former director of the pastoral center in Hyderabad, sees a failure to care for priests, even their health needs. In some cases, he said, they are "treated worse than domestic workers."

Father Faleiro pointed out that while Goa archdiocese has improved its health care for priests, it does not have special rehabilitation facilities for priests who are addicted to alcohol or who require psychiatric treatment.

Stressing that loneliness is a serious problem, Father Antimo Gomes, a parish priest in Goa, said that although a priest may be busy all day, he finds himself isolated in his room at the end of the day. He and Father Falerio agree that loneliness sometimes leads priests to turn to alcohol.

Father Falerio, who pioneered several public movements in Goa in the 1970s, said priests are not intellectually and socially equipped now to speak out against injustices in society, but seem to have "withdrawn into a shell."

Father Thelakkat also agreed that in the past, priests were exposed to different schools of secular thought, theologies and philosophies during clerical formation. "So many young priests are not aware about (trends in) secular thought" now, he said. "Today, theological studies are limited to biblical interpretation."

This limits priests' understanding of the world, he added. "Lack of reading, communication skills, technological phobia, and low self-confidence make the priests inferior to laypeople."

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