Sadly, in many parts of the world there is a Eucharistic famine, precisely because there are no priests to celebrate the Eucharist. This problem has been going on for decades and is only getting worse.

Last year, the Vatican reported that while the number of Catholics worldwide increased by 16.2 million in 2021, the number of priests decreased by 2,347.

As a result, on average there were 3,373 Catholics for every priest in the world (including retired priests), a rise of 59 people per priest.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate reports that in 1965 there were 59,426 priests in the United States. In 2022, there were only 34,344 .

Over much the same period, the number of Catholics has increased to 72.5 million in 2022, from 54 million in 1970.

Priests are also getting older. In 2012, a CARA study found that the average age of priests rose to 63 in 2009, from 35 in 1970.

When a Jesuit provincial, the regional director of the order, told Jesuits at a retirement home not long ago that there was a waiting list to get in, a resident wag responded, "We are dying as fast as we can."

In many rural areas of the United States, priests no longer staff parishes but simply visit parishes once a month or less frequently. In 1965, there were only 530 parishes without priests. By 2022, there were 3,215 according to CARA.

All of these numbers are only going to get worse.

In the early 1980s, the archbishop of Portland came to a rural parish to tell them they would no longer have a priest and that most Sundays they would have a Scripture service, not a Mass.

A parishioner responded, "Before the Second Vatican Council, you told us that if we did not go to Mass on Sunday, we would go to hell.

After the Council, you told us that the Eucharist was central to the life of the Church. Now you are telling us that we will be just like every other Bible church in our valley."

Many American bishops have tried to deal with the shortage by importing foreign priests to staff parishes, but Vatican statistics show that the number of priests worldwide is also decreasing.

New U.S. immigration rules are also going to make it more difficult to employ foreign priests in the United States.

The Catholic hierarchy has simply ignored the obvious solution to this problem for decades.

Under Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, the discussion of married priests was forbidden. Leaders in the hierarchy tended to live in large cities where the shortage had less of an impact than in rural areas.

Even Pope Francis, who expressed his respect for married clergy in Eastern Catholic churches, did not respond positively when the bishops meeting at the Synod for the Pan-Amazon Region voted 128-41 to allow married deacons to become priests.

At the recent meeting of the Synod on Synodality, the issue of married priests was hardly mentioned.

The decline in the number of vocations has many explanations depending on whom you ask. Conservatives blame the reforms coming out of the Second Vatican Council.

Certainly, the council did emphasise the holiness of marriage and the vocation of the laity. Priests seemed less special after the council.

Prior to the council, only a priest could touch the consecrated host. Today, lay ministers of Communion do so at nearly every Mass.

However, sociologists note that vocations decline when families have fewer children and when children have greater educational and employment opportunities.

Thus, in a family with only one or two children, the parents prefer grandchildren to a son who is a priest.

And, in the past, priests were the most educated person in the community and therefore had great status. Today, parishes can have many lawyers, doctors and other professionals, and becoming a priest does not confer the status it used to.

Those who point to the continued increases in vocations in Africa and Asia need to listen to the sociologists.

Already, there are fewer vocations in urban areas of India where families have fewer children and more opportunities for education are available.

Africa and Asia are not the future of the church. They are simply slower in catching up with modernity.

Anti-clericalism has also impacted vocations, first in Europe and now in America. Priests are no longer universally respected. They are often treated with ridicule and contempt. Being a priest is counter-cultural.

Despite this, there are still many Catholics who are willing to take up this vocation. People are being called to priesthood, but the hierarchy is saying no because those who feel called are married, gay or women.

A 2006 survey by Dean Hoge found that nearly half of the young men involved in Catholic campus ministry had "seriously considered" ministry as a priest, but most also want to be married and raise a family.

Having a married clergy will not solve all the church's problems, as we can see in Protestant churches.

Married ministers are involved in sex abuse, have addictions and can have the same clerical affectations as any celibate priest. But every employer will tell you that if you increase the number of candidates for a job, the quality of the hire goes up.

Nor is allowing priests to marry simply about making them happier. For the Catholic Church it is a question of whether we are going to have the Eucharist or not.

At the Last Supper, Jesus said, "Do this in memory of me." He did not say, "Be celibate."

• First published by Religion News Service
• Thomas J. Reese is a Jesuit priest, is a Senior Analyst at Religion News Service. Previously he was a columnist at the National Catholic Reporter (2015-17) and an associate editor (1978-85) and editor in chief (1998-2005) at America magazine.

As many as 94% of self-identified Nigerian Catholics surveyed said they attend weekly or daily Mass, according to a study published in early 2023 by Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.

The World Values Survey, which conducted the poll, doesn't survey all countries in the world. Still, Nigerian Catholics had the highest Mass attendance among those asked. Nigeria was followed by Kenya (73%) and Lebanon (69%).

At the same time, both Christian Concern and Open Doors, organisations that track Christian persecution in the world, rank Nigeria as one of the worst countries for Christians to live in after North Korea, followed by India, Iran, China, Pakistan and Eritrea as top countries for Christian persecution.

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The CARA national survey, "Faith and Spiritual Life of Catholics in the United States," polled 2,214 18 to 35-year olds. It was conducted between July and August 2020.

It aimed to develop a better understanding of the faith and spiritual life of Catholics in the US especially Hispanics and young adults, and how to meet their needs.

The survey findings include data showing:

• 73 percent agreed "somewhat" or "strongly" that they could be a good Catholic without going to Mass every Sunday.
• 39 percent agreed "somewhat" or "strongly" that they could never imagine themselves leaving the Catholic Church.
• 13 percent attended Mass at least once a week before the pandemic.
• 21 percent said they attended Mass at least once a month, 31 percent a few times a year and 36 percent rarely or never attend Mass.
• The most common reason given for not attending Mass was a lack of time (57 percent), not believing missing Mass is a sin (55 percent), family responsibilities (44 percent), "not a very religious person" (43 percent) and preferring to practice their faith outside the parish (43 percent).
• A third (weekly Mass attendees) have participated in faith-related groups as adults.
• 6 percent were "very" involved with parish activities before the pandemic, 13 percent were "somewhat" involved, 17 percent "a little" and 64 percent were not involved.

The crisis of Catholic clergy sexually abusing minors was the most frequently given reason (44 percent) for not being more active in parish life.

Other reasons include the church's teachings on homosexuality (42 percent), feeling older people are too influential in the parish (35 percent), the church's teachings on birth control (34 percent), the roles available to women (33 percent), a feeling that the church is not open to dialogue with other religious faiths (33 percent) and divorce and remarriage (32 percent).

Most weekly Mass attenders are in parish or diocesan young adult groups (34 percent), religious volunteer groups (19 percent), pro-life groups (15 percent), Vinnies (11 percent).

• 74 percent active in Catholic groups agreed "somewhat" or "very much" that they are motivated to learn from new experiences.
• 74 percent participate to nourish spiritual life, 69 percent to "reduce negative feelings", to serve others (69 percent) and for social ties (65 percent).

Source

• America Magazine
• Image: The Southern Cross

The survey run by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University shows most of the new priests went to Catholic schools.

Family example is another important factor in their vocation: a third have a relative who is already a priest or religious.

While about half say they were actively dissuaded from entering the seminary, most - 82 per cent - say they had encouragement to enter the priesthood by someone they knew - mainly priests, family members or friends.

One of the survey's authors, Dr. Mary L. Gautier, says these characteristics offered the new priests opportunities to be aware of and around priests as they were growing up.

"Encouragement from family, friends, the parish priest, the teachers in the school, all of that makes a difference" and was a "very important" factor in their decision, Gautier said.

The survey also shows a small reduction in the average age of ordination since 1999: where the average age used to be 36, the class of 2017's average age is 34.

The average age the newly ordained priests started seriously considering entering the priesthood was when they were 16.

Encouraging wider diversity in the seminary is a challenge, Gautier says.

Seventy percent of those who responded to the survey were Caucasian, and just 25% were born outside the United States.

Reflecting the country's ethnic and cultural makeup is a challenge; for example, around 34% of all US Catholics are Hispanic.

"I think vocation directors are aware of the challenge and are actively working to increase vocations in the Hispanic community, but it's not reflected in the numbers of ordinands, at least this year," Gautier said.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Catholic Herald