SW News: The number of priests, seminarians, and new vocations to the priesthood in the United States has decreased in parishes where priests serve large congregations, according to a study commissioned by the Vocation Ministry and titled "The Situation of Priestly Vocations in the United States."

The Ministry hopes to address this issue by providing priests, teachers, and lay Catholics with the resources they need to establish flourishing vocations ministries in their local communities.

Even in more prosperous dioceses, the survey indicated that the number of Catholic priests in the United States is consistently declining. In 1970, almost 59,000 priests served 18,000 parishes for the Church in the United States. By 2021, the number of ministers had decreased to 34,923, serving 16,579 parishes.

There has been mention of a continuous fall in the number of ordinations throughout most dioceses. Just 33 out of 175 dioceses ordained as many priests as were required to preserve the status quo in 2021.

The analysis indicated that between 2014 and 2021, the number of active diocesan priests fell by 9 percent, the number of active religious priests fell by 14 percent, the number of seminarians fell by 22 percent, and the number of annual priestly ordinations fell by 24 percent.

The research claims that a number of diocesan priests have expressed concerns about being overworked and having less support from their local diocese as a consequence of the decline in priests and seminarians throughout the country as well as other demographic changes in the Church and society. Several bishops were obliged to integrate parishes, group comparable regions, or even close churches as the number of priests became less and less accessible.

The research showed that the vocation ministry could help reduce the problem by being receptive to strategies, ideas, and approaches that question the status quo of the previous 50 years. "The Church in America, diocese by diocese, needs to commit to fostering an environment where vocations may be initiated, discerned, and fostered all the way to ordination and beyond," it added.