Called by Name | Anne Hendershott and Christopher White | Catholic World Report
Researchers seek to understand disparities in diocesan ordination rates.
In a 2009 address celebrating the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, a day traditionally devoted to prayer for the sanctification of the clergy, Pope Benedict XVI inaugurated a “Year for Priests” in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of John Mary Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests worldwide. Pope Benedict reminded those gathered that St. John Vianney often said, “The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.” Pope Benedict continued, “How can I not praise the courageous fidelity of so many priests who, even amid difficulties and incomprehension, remain faithful to their vocation as friends of Christ, whom he has called by name, chosen, and sent?”
Pope Benedict had reason to celebrate during the Year of the Priest. Despite the media hype about the projected shortage of priests and its negative effect on the sacramental life of the Church, the reality is that the number of priests is growing worldwide. According to the 2009 almanac prepared by the Vatican’s Central Office of Church Statistics, there were over 5,000 more Catholic priests globally in 2009 than there were in 1999.
Although there have been declines in Europe, many dioceses in the United States report dramatically increasing numbers of candidates and a growing number of priestly ordinations. According to the Official Catholic Directory, there were 442 men ordained to the priesthood in the United States in 2002. Ordinations rose to 454 men in 2005, and in 2011, there were 467 priestly ordinations. Some dioceses experienced much greater increases. While these numbers show a decline from the peak ordination years prior to the close of Vatican II (994 ordinations in 1965), there is reason for optimism.
Still, there are some dioceses that continue to experience low numbers of ordinations—despite large numbers of Catholics living in these dioceses. It is difficult to understand why ordinations in some dioceses are increasing, while other dioceses have few to none. One might be tempted to look for an easy explanation of the disparity by simply considering the percentage of Catholics living in a diocese and concluding that those with large numbers of Catholics will have large numbers of ordinations. This would be wrong. In fact, some researchers have found that when there is a greater percentage of Catholics living within a diocese as compared with the total population in the diocese, there are fewer ordinations.
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