Priest Shortage

The Catholic Diocese of Spokane is starting a capital campaign to raise money for a new seminary for new priests. I am hoping to do some sort of column on it soon and will blog some of my research along the way.

So how bad is the priest shortage? That was my first question. Answer: Pretty bad. According to an article in Notre Dame magazine "currently, fewer than 4,000 men are enrolled in seminaries in the United States. The replacement rate is about 40 new priests for every 100 who die or resign. Since the social turbulence of the 1970s, ordinations have been falling 7 percent per decade."

Even the U.S. Labor Department is onto the shortage, in one of the surprises found in my research. The Labor Deparment report said "the shortage of Roman Catholic priests is expected to continue, resulting in a very favorable job outlook through the year 2010. Many priests will be needed in the years ahead to provide for the spiritual, educational, and social needs of the increasing number of Catholics. In recent years, the number of ordained priests has been insufficient to fill the needs of newly established parishes and other Catholic institutions and to replace priests who retire, die, or leave the priesthood. This situation is likely to continue, as seminary enrollments remain below the levels needed to overcome the current shortfall of priests."

To be continued.