Annual Report
Ordination Class of 2020 CARA Study
The Class of 2020: Survey of Ordinands to the Priesthood by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, Georgetown University, Thu. T. Do, LHC, Ph.D., Michal J. Kramarek, Ph.D., March 2020
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 2020. 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 ordinands to the priesthood in 2020 by contacting all theologates, houses of formation, dioceses, archdioceses, eparchies, and institutes of men religious in the United States. The resulting contact list 448 ordinands were used to administer the survey.
The survey was administered between February 6 and March 22. The survey invitation was sent by email to 448 identified ordinands. Follow-up emails were regularly sent to the ordinands who delayed their response. A total of 347 ordinands completed the survey (77% response rate). The responding ordinands included 285 ordinands to the diocesan priesthood (82% of all respondents) and 62 ordinands to the religious priesthood (18%).