New priests come from many nations, backgrounds but have common call

Published: 2004-07-19

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- They came from Vietnam and Venezuela, from Poland and the Philippines and from throughout the United States. They were widowers in their 70s, single men in their 20s and everything in between. They had worked in publishing, architecture, law and farming, and one had even been a chef. But uniting these men was a desire to serve God as Catholic priests. Although the total number of U.S. ordinations was not available, the priestly ordination class of 2004 represented a continuation of several recent trends in U.S. ordinations to the priesthood. Preliminary results of an upcoming "Report on Survey of 2004 Priestly Ordinations" by Dean R. Hoge of the Life Cycle Institute at The Catholic University of America in Washington showed a rise in the average age at ordination to 37, up 2.2 years since 1998 and 0.2 years since last year's class. Hoge also found that the percentage of new priests who were born outside the United States was continuing to rise, from 24 percent in 1998, when his research began, to 31 percent in 2004.

Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .