THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRIESTHOOD SINCE VATICAN II

A Happy Lot
Same Call, Different Men
THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRIESTHOOD SINCE VATICAN II
BY MARY L. GAUTIER, PAUL M. PERL AND STEPHEN J. FICHTER
LITURGICAL PRESS. 248P $24.95

Three doctors enter a consulting room and take their places across from an anxious patient. “We have good news and bad news for you,” they announce. “We’ll begin,” they say with benign smiles meant to engender hope, “with the good news.”

The doctors, Mary L. Gautier, Paul M. Perl and Stephen J. Fichter, are not physicians; they are seasoned sociologists at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. Last year they published the results of a study on the priesthood conducted in 2009 as Same Call, Different Men, commissioned by the National Association of Priests’ Councils. It continues the respected research of Dean Hoge and Jacqueline Wenger, Evolving Visions of the Priesthood: Changes from Vatican II to the Turn of the New Century (2003). The patient, of course, is the Catholic priesthood.

Priests, the present study reports, in spite of the sexual abuse scandals, the heavy workload and the graying of the priesthood, are very happy men. A staggering 97 percent of those who responded to CARA’s 2009 survey (on which Same Call, Different Men is based) said they were “very happy” or “pretty happy.” Of that number, two thirds said they were “very happy.” Previous surveys from 1970 to 2001 found that on average only 38 percent of priests claimed to be very happy. Moreover, when asked in the 2009 survey if they “will definitely or probably not leave the priesthood,” 97 percent indicated their intention to remain in priestly ministry, compared with 88 percent who said that in a 1970 study. An impressive 95 percent report they would “definitely or probably choose priesthood again,” up from 79 percent in 1970.

Not surprisingly, most priests are ready and willing to encourage a likely candidate to consider the priesthood. This is an important finding that falls clearly in the good news category but, as we shall see, further complicates efforts to identify the causes of the present priest vocation crisis and the precipitous drop in the number of ordinations. Clearly priests love doing what priests do—celebrating the sacraments, preaching, building community and the pastoral grace of being present with their parishioners in the critical moments of their lives.

Now for the bad news. While seminary numbers have leveled off in recent years at roughly 3,500 men in graduate studies for the priesthood, annual ordinations constitute only 30 percent of the replacement ratio. In other words, for every 100 priests who retire, resign or die in a given year, only 30 are ordained. We Americans would not tolerate such a replacement ratio for medical doctors, but church authorities show no public alarm for the present situation other than urging prayers for priestly vocations, enhanced recruitment efforts and the recruiting of foreign born priests for service here in the United States.

At the same time, there is good news embedded in the bad news: overworked priests, stretched to their limits and often serving multiple parishes, still report they are very happy. Perhaps it is because priests have front row seats at the hidden dramas of grace unfolding all about them. Perhaps it is because older men generally are happier than younger men. Perhaps it is because priests, in spite of their all-too-public clay feet, remain men of faith and prayer.