Number of priests

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There are a number of threads out there about priest shortages and so forth, so I thought we could have a poll to get an idea of how staffing levels are for the faithful.
 
Well I know of four devout orders that are growing leaps and bounds. All have the same things in common.

#1 Are faithful to the Holy Father
#2 Do not have altar girls
#3 Encourage frequent reception of the Sacraments
I am sure there are many other things but these things seem to be key.

The fastest growing orders are, The Legionaries of Christ, Opus Dei, Miles Christi, Opus Sanctum Angelorum
I think the Redempteris may also fall into this but I do not know many of them.
 
Do you mean for our own parishes or dioceses?

Well, according to the latest stats published on our website, my parish has 2,500 families.

We have one priest. But we also have three deacons, two senior deacons, and 4 deacon candidates.
 
Sorry I posted before your poll came up. We have one pastor and one associate pastor and a few guest house priests that help out.
 
As the poll indicates, I am just curious about assignments to the parish you belong to. I am not looking for presbyterial numbers diocese-wide… just how many priests are assigned to serve your parish. It makes no difference if the priests assigned to staff your parish are diocesesan or religious either, so long as they are assigned to serve your parish in some capacity.

Although the poll doesn’t ask for it, I would also be curious about pastors emeritus and deacons assigned to your parish as well.

Please feel free to post that information, as well as statistics about your parish in terms of families, etc.
 
We have a pastor, two additional priests (full time), one part-time at our parish (so four different men), plus three deacons.

We are blessed. (We also have only altarboys, and one of the oldest is now in college and is said to be very seriously discerning a possible vocation to the priesthood himself.)
 
Sorry, I also originally posted before the poll portion of your post came up.

I should add that while we have just one priest, our parish is next door to a seminary. So we can sometimes borrow a resident priest if he is not already assigned to help at the neighboring parishes.
 
Our Pastor (who is a monsignor) is in charge of one parish and has two priests, one deacon, one nun and two other monsignors assisting him. One of the priests, however, will be leaving at the end of the month and the bishop will not be replacing him.
 
My parishes have just me. We have about 175 families spread across 7000 square miles with a parish church in three different towns. The two towns on the edges are 100 miles apart. Many parishes in the city have a much worse parishioner to priest ratio, but most don’t have the miles. My parish is at least four times the size of the Archdiocese of Chicago.😃
 
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frleo:
My parishes have just me. We have about 175 families spread across 7000 square miles with a parish church in three different towns. The two towns on the edges are 100 miles apart. Many parishes in the city have a much worse parishioner to priest ratio, but most don’t have the miles. My parish is at least four times the size of the Archdiocese of Chicago.😃
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Father,

I will keep you in my prayers.

Michael
 
We have two Priests, one being an associate and a deacon

My home town has three Priests, one being an associate and one being part time. And they have a deacon as well.
 
Another option missing from the poll is priests in residence. We have a priest in residence who assists with Masses, both on weekends and during the week. He works in the Office of Canonical Services during the week. We also have two deacons (me and one other). The parish as 4,700 families.

In my Melkite parish has one priest and 1/2 deacon (me) plus another deacon who helps out 2 or 3 Sundays a month. But we only have 300 families.

Deacon Ed
 
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MusicMan:
As the poll indicates, I am just curious about assignments to the parish you belong to. I am not looking for presbyterial numbers diocese-wide… just how many priests are assigned to serve your parish. It makes no difference if the priests assigned to staff your parish are diocesesan or religious either, so long as they are assigned to serve your parish in some capacity.

Although the poll doesn’t ask for it, I would also be curious about pastors emeritus and deacons assigned to your parish as well.

Please feel free to post that information, as well as statistics about your parish in terms of families, etc.
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The church I just left had 1 priest/2parishes and 1 elderly deacon who is really slowing down.
 
Could not vote as we have one paster, two parochial vicars, one priest in residence, one transitional deacon, and one permanent deacon
 
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frleo:
My parishes have just me. We have about 175 families spread across 7000 square miles with a parish church in three different towns. The two towns on the edges are 100 miles apart. Many parishes in the city have a much worse parishioner to priest ratio, but most don’t have the miles. My parish is at least four times the size of the Archdiocese of Chicago.😃
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Not to drag this off topic, but I’m wondering–how do you handle Sundays? Are you able to get to all three parishes or do you have to rotate? Are you able to have Masses during the week? How do you handle all the day to day stuff, like visiting the sick, couseling, that sort of thing? It all must be very well organized. We’ll pray for you too! I know our priest is incredibly busy, but most of his business is with about 45 miles of here (when he makes hospital visits, which he does very often); I can’t even imagine what your situation is like. God bless you!!

On topic, we have one priest and that’s it. No deacons, his only assistants are in the office, not with actual priestly details. My parents’ parish has a only a deacon that serves two parishes.
 
We have around 300 families and just one priest. There are no other priests or deacons.

The talk is that some day we may be sharing our priest with the neighboring parish 30 miles away. The contentious part is at which parish will the priest live? Both parishes want the priest at their own parish.
 
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aurora77:
Not to drag this off topic, but I’m wondering–how do you handle Sundays? Are you able to get to all three parishes or do you have to rotate? Are you able to have Masses during the week? How do you handle all the day to day stuff, like visiting the sick, couseling, that sort of thing? It all must be very well organized. We’ll pray for you too! I know our priest is incredibly busy, but most of his business is with about 45 miles of here (when he makes hospital visits, which he does very often); I can’t even imagine what your situation is like. God bless you!!
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The small number of parishioners makes it a little less demanding. I have all of my Masses on Sunday because it is hard to compete with Saturday night sports. I start in Jordan on Sunday morning with Mass at 8:45. By 10:00 I am on the road for the hour trip to Circle and have Mass there at 11:30. At about 3:30 I start the half hour trip to Richey where I have Mass at 4:30 and then back to Circle. I usually spend the first half of my week in Circle and mid week go over to Jordan. Mass in Circle and Jordan once a month at the nursing homes and try to visit some of the shut-ins after that Mass. Most of the people are able to set up an appointment for the time that I am in their community. You need to remember that on Sunday I only have about 110 people at Mass in Jordan, 50 in Circle and 15 in Richey.
 
Our pastor is pastor of another church as well. A total of about 1100 families and 3300+ “total catholics”. Don’t ask me how they figure that or how accurate the website is. A priest who is chaplain at some local hospitals helps our pastor with Masses and Confessions. They alternate churches every weekend.

Our pastor was pastor of our church before he was also appointed pastor of the other church, so as far as I know, he has continued to live in the rectory at our church. I’m not sure where the chaplain stays. Sometimes he appears to be in residence with our pastor, and sometimes not.

I know they are both plenty busy.
 
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