Increase in vocations?

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BenFischer

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I’ve read several threads about how certain Dioceses and certain religious orders are experiencing a surge in vocations. I agree that it’s very exciting, but the overall numbers still look grim. The USCCB website reports an increase in Priestly ordinations in 2007 vs 2005 of only 2, and a drop in graduate level seminarians. The only bit of good news is that the number of parishes without a resident pastor is down slightly from 2005.

cara.georgetown.edu/bulletin/index.htm

Perhaps there is a surge in undergrad seminarians. I hope that it’s so. I don’t want to come off as gloomy or defeatist, but I wonder if there’s some wishful thinking going on, or extrapolating from a small community to the larger church. I don’t think we’re done praying, yet.

Is there any reliable source of statistics that does indicate an increase in vocations? The website above does have some encouraging numbers for the world wide church, but I’m not seeing it in the US.
 
BenFischer said:
I’ve read several threads about how certain Dioceses and certain religious orders are experiencing a surge in vocations. I agree that it’s very exciting, but the overall numbers still look grim. The USCCB website reports an increase in Priestly ordinations in 2007 vs 2005 of only 2, and a drop in graduate level seminarians. The only bit of good news is that the number of parishes without a resident pastor is down slightly from 2005.

cara.georgetown.edu/bulletin/index.htm

Perhaps there is a surge in undergrad seminarians. I hope that it’s so. I don’t want to come off as gloomy or defeatist, but I wonder if there’s some wishful thinking going on, or extrapolating from a small community to the larger church. I don’t think we’re done praying, yet.

Is there any reliable source of statistics that does indicate an increase in vocations? The website above does have some encouraging numbers for the world wide church, but I’m not seeing it in the US.
Click to expand...
I think you make a good point. Its great to read of a tiny order of nuns going from 15 to 22 members in a couple of years. But the overall falloff is overwhelming these small increases IMO.
 
BenFischer said:
I’ve read several threads about how certain Dioceses and certain religious orders are experiencing a surge in vocations. I agree that it’s very exciting, but the overall numbers still look grim. The USCCB website reports an increase in Priestly ordinations in 2007 vs 2005 of only 2, and a drop in graduate level seminarians. The only bit of good news is that the number of parishes without a resident pastor is down slightly from 2005.

cara.georgetown.edu/bulletin/index.htm

Perhaps there is a surge in undergrad seminarians. I hope that it’s so. I don’t want to come off as gloomy or defeatist, but I wonder if there’s some wishful thinking going on, or extrapolating from a small community to the larger church. I don’t think we’re done praying, yet.

Is there any reliable source of statistics that does indicate an increase in vocations? The website above does have some encouraging numbers for the world wide church, but I’m not seeing it in the US.
Click to expand...
Some random related points:
  • College Seminarians aren’t included.
  • It phoned CARA directly to ask about methodologies. On the issue of ordinations, their numbers are a compilation of volunatarily submitted diocesans statistics. This is slightly problematic (they readily admit) at three levels:
    1. 1) Some diocese did not report
    1. Some diocese did not report members of religous orders ordained - only diocesan priests
    2. Some orders have their men ordained overseas or outside the US - like Opus Day or the Legionaries of Christ (Both of which ordained at least 12 men each from the US to the priesthood in Rome in 2007). US men ordained for service in the US, not ordained her are not counted.
    • It is not clear if overseas seminarians (guys in Rome, for instance) are included
    • I have seen alternate statistics (see page #6) from CARA that there are in fact over 16.6K perm deacons in the US serving as of 2007. In fact the statistic offered by your source has 1.2K fewer listed for 2007. It but it bears consideration that these numbers may in fact not be up to date.
    • A good statitstic to try to determine would be what are the ordination rates among seminarians? 10,000 seminarians sounds more impressive than 3,000 seminarians to be sure. But what is better 10,000 sems with a 10% ordination rate or 3,000 with a 50% ordination rate? (Those are just some random round numbers, but you get the idea…)
 
  • A qualitative aspect of seminarian numbers that is near impossible to gauge without a greater look using different methodologies is the attitude, characteristics and quality of the candidates. What do I mean by that? Honestly - and this is anecdotal to be sure - the men I am meeting in seminary today versus 10 years ago or 20 years ago are very much a different breed - the “JP2 kids”. Attitudes widely prevalent among them seem to be marked by concearn for fidelity to magisterial thinking and teaching, a marked interest in traditional liturgics and greater assent to traditional teachings on marital issues.
  • Some programs - and we have all heard about them - seem to just get stronger and stronger over the years. Others seem to get weaker or have been languishing in the same holding pattern for decades. If I can coin a phrase, the “Sagnaw Effect” in fact COULD happen in any number of places with the looming retirement of any number of bishops who have demonstrated a bit of a lackluster enthusiasm for vocations are replaced with men of vision. Or more plainly, diocese that currently have 0-4 seminarians could, in the course of a leadership change overniight start to have 20+… in the course of a decade - understanding that few priests go through less than 4 years of formation - the net effect of such changes will start to be seen and felt.
  • The rise and growth of the college seminary program in the last decade is something that is amazing to me. Certainly, if formation and discernment processes are working - and I have reason to believe that they are - many of these young men will NOT be ordained priests. And taht is a good thing - if they are not called to it, seminary is a good time to find out. I am am, myself among the ranks of ex-seminarians. But it is telling and heartening that so many young men are considering this. Future studies will need to be conducted to see wha the effects of this formation will be on Christian marriage and family life, the diaconate, and greater lay involvement in different aspects of Church life.
  • On a related note, I would be intersted in seeing what the average age of a new ordinand is during these different times. I am indebted and grateful for the “late vocations” One priest of any age offering even one Mass is of infinate value… But there is something to be said for the gents that start early and run a long race… I am of the suspicion that we are seeing more and more younger men being ordained.
As for the questioning about whether the vocations surge is limited to a few small orders here and there seeing increases… Well that is a reasonable question to ask, but I turn it around and ask if it isn’t reasonable to expect that some of them will continue to grow at phenomenal rates. Is it possible tha tsome of the new orders that have gone from 15 to 20 members last year, won’t go from 20 to 3 members next year, and 30 to 45 members the year after?

IIRC in 1927 the Jesuits had something like 125 priests serving in the US. In the course of 25 years, that number increaed 10X fold to well over 1,200 members. There is no reason to believe that could not happen again with some orders.

Sure in 2005 we ordained less than half as many priests as were ordained in 1965. Anyone know the shelf-life of a vintage 1965 ordinand? I don’t, but I know when you begin to poke around, a good deal of those fellas did not reamain priests for terribly long.

Diaconal vocations are definately on the rise as well - currently over 16,600 men serve as perm deacons, and all but two diocese now have formation programs. As of this writing, the CARA rep with whom I spoke relayed to me that over 3K men are in formation at varous stages for the diaconate. It stands to reason that within a decade, we will have over 20K deacons in the US…
 
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