Report
Ordination Class of 2018 CARA Report
The Class of 2018: Survey of Ordinands to the Priesthood by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, Georgetown University, Mary L. Gautier, Ph.D., Thu T. Do, L.H.C., April 2018
A Report to the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life & Vocations, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
This report presents findings from a national survey of seminarians scheduled for ordination to the priesthood in 2018. The report is a part of collaboration between the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations and the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA). The purpose of this report is to compile information regarding men who are ordained to priesthood within a particular year.
The data collection for this report involved identifying the responding ordinands to the priesthood in 2018 by contacting all theologates, houses of formation, dioceses, archdioceses, eparchies, and institutes of men religious in the United States for the names and contact information of all men scheduled for ordination to priesthood in 2018 . The resulting contact list was used to administer the survey.
The survey was administered between January 29 and March 11. The survey invitation was sent by email to 430 identified ordinands. Follow-up emails were regularly sent to the ordinands who delayed their response and one follow-up email was sent to major superiors and vocation directors asking for assistance with encouraging the ordinands to participate in the survey. A total of 334 ordinands completed the survey (78 percent response rate). The responding ordinands included 252 ordinands to the diocesan priesthood (75 percent of all responding ordinands) and 78 ordinands to the religious priesthood (23 percent). Four responding ordinands did not report whether they belong to a religious institute or a diocese.