Of nearly 150 U.S. Latin Catholic dioceses, only sixteen of them have ordained enough priests in recent years to maintain their current levels of clergy, according to a new study.
In the years between 2013 and 2023, not a single diocese serving more than 750,000 Catholics had enough ordinations to maintain its current level of priests, suggesting that when it comes to diocesan vocations to the priesthood, small is beautiful — and often fruitful
In fact, data indicates that bigger dioceses — where priests serve larger flocks — are struggling to produce vocations at a replacement rate, while smaller dioceses — with priests serving fewer Catholics — are flourishing with priestly vocations.
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