Why do priests abandon their sacred calling? Modern psychology and sociology offer theories, but Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen points to a different answer: Judas Iscariot.

Most commentators attribute Judas’ fall to avarice, his complaint that Mary’s costly ointment should have been sold and given to the poor. But Sheen dismisses money as the root cause. Avarice is typically a sin of old age, and Judas was a young man. Financial greed alone could not have caused his spiritual ruin.

Instead, Sheen locates the origin of Judas’ fall in the sixth chapter of John — when Jesus first announced the Eucharist. That announcement alienated the masses, split the disciples, and prompted Jesus to declare that one of the Twelve was a devil.

Sheen’s conclusion is striking: A priest’s departure always stems from a secret, unobserved loss of faith in the Eucharist. No priest who maintains a daily Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament will ever abandon Christ. The crisis of the priesthood is not psychological; it is Eucharistic. And the remedy is not therapy, it is adoration. The question is whether priests will return to the source of their strength before it is too late.

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September 10, 2026