Study explores support for vocations, response to decline in priests

Published: 2008-04-14

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Although three-quarters of U.S. Catholic respondents in a new survey have noticed a decline in the number of priests serving in parishes, few of the men said they have considered becoming a priest and less than a third of all respondents said they would encourage their own child to pursue a religious vocation. Those were among the results of a survey of 1,007 self-identified adult Catholics conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington. The margin of error for the survey was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The 178-page CARA report, titled "Sacraments Today: Belief and Practice Among U.S. Catholics," was made public April 13. It summarized responses to a wide range of questions about Catholics' attitudes toward and participation in the Mass and the sacraments, their knowledge of the Catholic faith, their views on church leadership and teachings, and their experience with vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

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