Number of priests growing worldwide, Vatican reports

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“Vocations crisis” is a term which is loaded with values and assumptions.

Quoting from the article:
In North America, as well as Europe and Oceania, the numbers decreased for both diocesan and religious priests. Africa and Asia, however, brought up the overall figures with a more than 30 percent increase on both continents.
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In Europe, the average age of priests is higher than in Africa and Asia. The number of European priests is falling as new ordinations due not surpass the numbers of those who die.
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But in Asia and Africa the number of deaths was only one-third of the total new ordinations.
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In the developed countries of the world, the number of new priests does not equal the number of priests who are dying. So the number of priests is declining, and have been declining for four decades or so. The result is that diocese in the US and similar countries have had to adjust how priests are assigned, and to close churches to facilitate this juggling. This has been uncomfortable, and produced a fair outcry from parishioners.

To call it a crisis seems an overstatement. God will provide, we just have to adapt. The economically underdeveloped countries which are producing so many priests have been dealing with a priest-parishioner ratio which is far, far worse than what we have in the developed world. They have managed, and so can we.
 
dfp42 said:
And they said there was a vocation crisis…
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Whether or not you view it as a crisis depends in part on where you live.

The Catholic News Service version of the story here] says:

The worldwide increase, however, did not mean the number of priests increased on every continent, the newspaper reported. In North America, the number of diocesan clergy decreased 7 percent and the number of religious clergy fell by 21 percent, it said.
 
That’s a 1.2% increase in the number of priests worldwide.

cara.georgetown.edu/CARAServices/requestedchurchstats.html

…not exactly a stampede. Also consider that the number of priests has increased mainly, almost exclusively, in Asia and Africa, where the ratio of priest to parishioner remains extremely low, but from whichpriests emigrate to the US, called by dioceses there–which makes the shortage in Asia and Africa even worse.
 
Dale_M said:
“Vocations crisis” is a term which is loaded with values and assumptions.

Quoting from the article:

In the developed countries of the world, the number of new priests does not equal the number of priests who are dying. So the number of priests is declining, and have been declining for four decades or so. The result is that diocese in the US and similar countries have had to adjust how priests are assigned, and to close churches to facilitate this juggling. This has been uncomfortable, and produced a fair outcry from parishioners.

To call it a crisis seems an overstatement. God will provide, we just have to adapt. The economically underdeveloped countries which are producing so many priests have been dealing with a priest-parishioner ratio which is far, far worse than what we have in the developed world. They have managed, and so can we.
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My friend, I love your posts, but they sure don’t read like those of a “former” catholic. 😉
 
I used to be concerned about the dwindling #'s and widening ratios but I have
come to believe that how many believe may be less important than how much those many believe. There was a famous General who said something like, ’ You can give them 10,000
soldiers with an interest and give me 1,000 warriors that are fearless, devoted and passionate. I’ll win every time. Or the difference between Eggs and Bacon?

The eggs take an interest but the bacon’s commited.🙂

The truth is the truth.
 
If you have 25% of the needed number, and add 100 additional Priests each year, you have great growth. that does NOT mean however that you are ordaining a sufficient number of Priests to meed the need.

AND, if you bother to look beyond the headlines, you will discover that the greatest increase is in Africa and India. Many African countries, and india, are sending Priests to the US, and the Western Europe, because there is such an acute shortage of priests in those areas.

We had a delightful Indian Priest assigned to our parish for 6 months last year.
 
It is always good to hear news like this coming out of the Vatican. Yes, we will have to see more priests from the under-developed countries serving in the developed countries, but that is what Catholicism is at the root. God has always had a people and will continue to guide His Church.
 
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