CV NEWS FEED // A survey of almost 400 ordinands set to become priests this year revealed that parents and family life play an important role in discerning a priestly vocation.
The report was the result of a collaboration between the USCCB’s Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations, and the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA). The 475 ordinands were asked a series of questions about their vocations and their backgrounds, but only 392 responded.
Over 80% of the ordinands said that both parents were Catholic when they were children, while 4% said that their father was not Catholic, 8% said that their mother was not Catholic, and 6% said that neither parent was Catholic.
Based on past trends, the report predicted that the number of priests who grew up with both parents as practicing Catholics will continue to increase over the next few years.
Ordinands were very likely to have been raised by their biological parents (98%), while 88% reported that they were raised by a married couple living together. Ordinands generally had an average of 3 siblings, and were most likely to be either the eldest child (37%) or somewhere in the middle (34%). Only 4% of ordinands were only children.
The report also asked ordinands who encouraged them to consider the priesthood. Roughly 90% of ordinands reported being encouraged by at least one person. While a parish priest proved to have the most encouraging influence for ordinands (63%), 32% said that their mother encouraged them, while 23% said that their father provided encouragement.
Only 13% reported being discouraged by their mother, and only 12% reported being discouraged by their father.
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