(Cathopic via CNA)
More than 450 men are set to be ordained priests this year, and the survey of their ordination class shows that the overwhelming majority of priests-to-be were raised Catholic in intact families and individually showed habits of frequent church service and regular prayer life.
“On this day, let us thank God for continuing to call men and women to serve him and his Church as priests, religious, and consecrated persons,” Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing, Michigan, said April 25. “We pray that all families, teachers, and priests will continue their essential work of instilling the faith and love of Jesus in our children.”
Boyea chairs the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations. On Tuesday the committee released the “Ordination Class of 2023 Study” from the Georgetown University-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA).
CARA sought survey responses from the 458 seminarians to be ordained this year. It received 334 responses, a response rate of 73%. Responses came from ordinands at 116 U.S. dioceses and 24 different religious institutions.
The seminarians to be ordained, also known as ordinands, are overwhelmingly “cradle Catholics.”
Boyea especially noted the importance of the family life of the prospective priests.
“Surveys of recently professed men and women religious and men ordained to the priesthood show that families and encouragement from the parish priests alongside Catholic schools provide optimal environments for a vocational call to grow,” he said.
More than 63% of survey respondents said their parish priest had been an encouraging influence on their vocation, followed by a fellow parishioner, a friend, their mother, father, or teacher or catechist.
Church ministry is another common habit for prospective priests:
The survey also shows commonalities in devotional life.
The survey found that less than half of new priests attended Catholic schools:
The survey was released ahead of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, marked by the Catholic Church this year on April 30, the Fourth Sunday of Easter.