USCCB - Vocations & Priestly Formation - Frequently Requested Church Statistics

Frequently Requested Church Statistics

Reprinted from “THE CARA REPORT” Summer 1998; Vol. 4, No. 1

CARA gets many inquiries from Church agencies and the media about the numbers of vocations, seminary enrollments, and priest and vowed religious. Below are comparative statistics for the past 30+ years. Information is from The Official Catholic Directory, the Vatican’s Statistical Yearbook of the Church, or CARA records. In 1996, the best available data on current average ages was: diocesan priests 58, men religious 61, women religious 69. Twenty-four percent of diocesan priests were over 70, the average retirement age. Forty-five percent of permanent deacons were over 60.

Diocesan priests
Religious priests
Total priests
Priestly Ordinations
Graduate-level

seminarians
Permanent deacons
Religious brothers
Religious sisters
Total Parishes
Without resident

priest
Total Catholics
Percent of U.S.

population

1965
35,925
22,207
58,132
994
8,325

0
12,271
179,954
17,637
549

46.6 m
24%

1975
36,005
22,904
58,090
771
5,279

898
8,625
135,225
18,515
702

48.7 m
23%

1985
35,052
22,265
57,317
533
4,063

7,838
7,544
115,386
19,244
1,051

52.3 m
23%

1995
32,834
16,717
49,551
522
3,172

11,452
6,578
92,107
19,723
2,161

60.2 m
23%

1998
31,657
15,925
47,582
509
3,158

12,247
6,115
85,412
19,628
2,460

61.6 m
23%