Diocesan Resources
The USCCB and Vocations (2013)
The USCCB and Vocations presentation by Rev. W. Shawn McKnight, S.T.D., Executive Director, Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, September 2013
Every year, CCLV has conducted surveys of those who make it through a program of formation for either the priesthood or religious life. This survey of Catholic, unmarried youth and young adults, however, aims to find out what is going on at the beginning of the “vocation process.” Range of ages: 14-35.
Extrapolating from the survey sample, close to a million and a half never-married Catholic men have considered a vocation, and more than 350,000 have considered it very seriously. Similarly, 1.3 million never-married Catholic women have considered a vocation and more than a quarter million of them have considered it very seriously. 3% of men and 2% of women responded that they “very seriously” considered a vocation. The purpose of the report is to help us get a handle on some of the obstacles facing youth and young adults to pursuing a vocation.
Subgroups of respondents are compared to their likelihood of considering a vocation at least “a little seriously” versus those who do not. Overall, 12% of males and 10% of females say they considered becoming a priest, brother or religious sister at least “a little seriously.” Where percentages of these subgroups are significantly higher than 12 and 10 percent, once can say there is an association between being in this subgroup and greater consideration of a vocation.