I obviously can’t answer, but I can tell you this: my priest typically starts his day at 5:30 a.m. so he has an hour for prayer before the rest of the day hits. From there I can talk a bit more about his weekly schedule than his daily schedule.
He has office hours all day, though I don’t know what he does during those. I do know that he’s meeting with people a lot. (We have about 2200 members.) He celebrates Mass with us daily, and also celebrates Mass at various other places all week (nursing home, hospital, another parish where he is frequently called to help.)
He prepares a daily homily.
He has several meetings, from parish meetings to diocesan meetings to Catholic school meetings, and on and on.
He runs a weekly Bible study, often another type of study after it. He offers the RCIA class. (And he needs preparation time for all of this.) He has CCD classes to prepare for and teach. He offers confession. During Lent he offers even more.
There’s wakes and funerals, weddings, marriage prep, baptism prep…he does it all.
I’ve heard that he takes time with everybody individually at wakes and really helps them in their grief.
And this is just the part of his schedule that I’m aware of.
I know that when I have been in the chapel at night, he has been on the phone, returning calls. No, I can’t hear what he’s saying (so everything IS confidential) but I hear enough. That, and when I call, it’s usually evening before he can return the call.
I also know that it’s not unusual for him to finish his day well after 9 p.m, with very little time in between his morning start and his finish, except for meal times.
I thank God for our priests. I have been known to joke that it’s good he’s not married, because the only time he’d see his family would be in the confessional.
Many people do it. We have a 6:15 am Mass, but our priests rotate who says that, so I assume they aren’t all up by 5 every morning. Don’t know, I have never asked! 