Weekly MESSAGE for May 13, 2007: A Third of Priest Ordained in 2007 Are Foreign Born

May 10, 2007

Focus: A Third of Priests Ordained in 2007 Are Foreign Born

Dear Friend,

U.S. Bishops’ data on those to be ordained this year shows that their average age is 35 and one in three were born outside the United States. Researchers gathered information from 282 seminarians (including 221 future diocesan priests and 60 religious), approximately 60% of the estimated 475 men who are expected to be ordained.

The following are some interesting statistics:

-- Seven in 10 report their primary race as Caucasian, European American, or white.

-- Of the 33% of individuals to be ordained who were born outside the United States, the largest numbers come from Vietnam, Mexico, Poland and the Philippines. Our Archdiocese has priests from each country serving here.

-- Some 6% are converts to the Catholic faith.

-- More than six in 10 have a college degree from before entering the seminary.

-- Half of those responding attended a Catholic elementary school.

-- About two-thirds of the group had full-time jobs before going to the seminary.

-- The average age at which they began considering a vocation was 17.

The Georgetown University-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate compiled the information. The organization conducts the survey each year for the U.S. Bishops’ Secretariat for Vocations and Priestly Formation

It seems as if, given the clergy shortage, we are becoming a Mission Land once again.

Fondly,
Father Nick Amato