The Priest Shortage at a Glance
Excerpted with permission from Richard Schoenherr and Lawrence Young, Full Pews and Empty Altars, Table 4.1, pp. 72-74 and Table 1.1, p. 12.
Diocesan Priest Population and Percentage of Decline, 1966-2005
by year and diocese
(rank order within region by percentage of difference)
UNITED STATES
Region and Y E A R % difference
diocese 1966 1985 2005 1966-2005
NORTHEAST
New England
Burlington VT 181 131 68 -62
Fall River MA 236 174 101 -57
Hartford CT 564 450 245 -57
Boston MA 1,330 961 569 -57
Portland ME 250 178 124 -50
Worcester MA 308 279 190 -38
Norwich CT 138 121 101 -27
Middle Atlantic
Brooklyn NY 1,039 701 428 -59
Albany NY 463 306 196 -58
Rochester NY 396 259 166 -58
New York NY 1,221 831 560 -54
Buffalo NY 629 497 318 -49
Philadelphia PA 1,042 815 590 -43
Newark NJ 876 710 528 -40
Scranton PA 467 372 285 -39
Camden NJ 356 345 222 -38
Ogdensburg NY 187 166 122 -35
Pittsburgh PA 566 537 432 -24
Altoona-
Johnstown PA 159 165 123 -23
Rock. Centre NY 449 418 358 -20
Allentown PA 286 258 238 -17
NORTHCENTRAL
East Northcentral
LaCrosse WI 318 193 101 -68
Indianapolis IN 264 164 97 -63
Marquette MI 147 100 57 -61
Milwaukee WI 665 478 268 -60
Rockford IL 178 142 73 -59
Detroit MI 734 462 310 -58
Grand Rapids MI 172 114 81 -53
Chicago IL 1,340 925 657 -51
Youngstown OH 256 193 126 -51
Belleville IL 180 139 95 -47
Columbus OH 237 185 136 -43
Cincinnati OH 458 368 266 -42
Gaylord MI 66 55 41 -38
Cleveland OH 618 530 460 -26
Saginaw MI 135 114 108 -20
West Northcentral
Dubuque IA 427 286 117 -73
New Ulm MN 128 88 56 -56
Fargo ND 154 106 69 -55
Salina KS 86 64 43 -50
Sioux City IA 209 174 107 -49
St. Cloud MN 174 140 94 -46
Des Moines IA 131 100 73 -44
Wichita KS 165 121 97 -41
Rapid City SD 77 40 49 -36
St. Paul-
Minn. MN 430 333 280 -35
Kansas City-
St. Jos. MO 173 136 115 -34
Dodge City KS 65 54 43 -34
St. Louis MO 555 508 390 -30
Springfield-
C. Girard MO 72 68 76 6
WEST
Mountain
Las Cruces NM 27 26 15 -44
Pueblo CO 85 76 56 -34
Santa Fe NM 141 116 98 -30
Cheyenne WY 59 45 45 -24
Boise ID 77 81 60 -22
Gallup NM 15 53 53 253
Pacific
Stockton CA 48 37 24 -50
San Diego CA 208 177 140 -33
Monterey CA 69 66 50 -28
Baker OR 45 39 33 -27
San Jose CA 110 89 82 -25
S.Bernardino CA 135 110 113 -16
S. Francisco CA 244 198 206 -16
Los Angeles CA 572 528 495 -13
Oakland CA 147 135 129 -12
Orange CA 102 125 161 58
SOUTH
East South
Baltimore MD 332 286 189 -43
Covington KY 210 164 130 -38
Wilmington DE 112 110 104 -7
Orlando FL 72 95 90 25
S.Petersburg FL 83 94 152 83
Atlanta GA 49 93 109 122
West Southcentral
Alex.-
Shreveport LA 134 92 42 -69
Little Rock AK 128 91 59 -54
Victoria TX 47 48 34 -28
Austin TX 91 91 70 -23
Galveston-
Houston TX 154 157 127 -18
Lafayette LA 141 138 117 -17
San Antonio TX 149 154 126 -15
Baton Rouge LA 72 79 64 -11
Fort Worth TX 49 59 46 -6
Beaumont TX 44 49 43 -2
Cor. Christi TX 68 70 67 -1
El Paso TX 53 58 56 6
Dallas TX 98 104 128 31
Lake Charles LA 33 41 53 61
Number of diocesan and religious priests per 10,000 Catholics and percentage of change,
1965-86, by year, nation, and continent
WESTERN NATIONS
Y E A R % change
1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1986 1965-86
Austria 11.1 9.3 9.0 9.3 8.8 8.8 -20.8
Belgium 17.2 15.0 15.4 14.3 12.8 12.8 -25.8
Canada 16.9 15.1 13.1 12.2 10.7 10.4 -38.7
France 12.3 9.9 9.3 8.5 7.7 7.5 -39.1
Gr. Britain 20.4 16.4 15.9 15.3 15.0 14.9 -26.8
Ireland 19.6 17.6 17.4 16.4 14.8 13.6 -30.8
Italy 12.3 12.4 11.5 11.5 10.9 10.8 -11.9
Netherlands 17.5 14.2 11.8 12.3 10.8 10.4 -40.4
Poland 5.6 5.8 5.8 5.9 5.9 6.0 6.7
Spain 11.0 10.7 9.6 8.9 8.4 8.1 -25.9
U.S. 12.9 12.1 11.7 11.6 10.7 10.5 -18.7
West Germany 8.2 8.2 8.2 7.8 7.7 -6.1
SOUTHERN CONTINENTS
Y E A R % change
1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1986 1965-86
Africa 5.4 4.3 3.3 3.0 2.5 2.4 -54.7
India 11.6 11.2 11.0 10.4 10.0 10.0 -13.5
So. America 2.3 1.9 1.7 1.5 1.4 1.4 -37.6
Sources: census counts for 1966 and 1985, and moderate projection series for 2005
If your diocese is not included here, it is because it was not included in the sample needed for the demographic study. You may want to call your chancery office to find out the projections for your diocese. Aside from the net loss of priests, our priest population is aging so that by the year 2005, U.S. priests will be older, with almost half being 55 or above and only one in eight under 35. To compound the crisis, the total number of U.S. Catholics is expected to increase by 65% in the same period. Currently 10% of U.S. parishes and 43% of parishes worldwide are without a priest (and therefore without Eucharist) according to the 1988 Vatican Directory.
Individual projections for smaller dioceses may fluctuate dramatically because "According to the 'law of large numbers', a strong trend becomes evident only after observing larger and larger numbers of relevant events...Thus, recording thousand upon thousands of transition events in many diocese over many years has revealed the national trends in the demographic transition of the clergy. So the evidence is strong that, if 1980-84 trends continue unchanged over the following two decades, the average diocese will probably decline 40% during the period under investigation." (p. 76, Full Pews and Empty Altars)
A Call for National Dialogue on the Future of Priestly Ministry is a joint endeavor of FutureChurch and Call To Action. Its purpose is to help raise the consciousness of our Catholic community about the nature of the ministerial crisis we face.
To find out how you can be proactive in preserving our Catholic Eucharistic heritage in your locale, contact:
FutureChurch
2459 Washington Ave
Cleveland, OH 44113
216/631-6965
euch2005@aol.com
Call To Action
4419 N. Kedzie
Chicago, IL 60625
773/604-0400
cta@cta-usa.org