A researcher at Catholic University says the much-lamented shortage of Catholic priests is a myth because there are plenty of priests to serve parishioners who actually attend Mass.
D. Paul Sullins acknowledged the “crippling shortage” of priests in some areas but argued that demand for the sacraments has not kept pace with either the growth in the number of parishioners or the decline in the number of priests.
“If we count only the parishioners who actually show up for Mass, there is no numerical shortage, much less a crisis, in the supply of clergy compared to the 1960s,” wrote Sullins, a professor of sociology, in the May 13 issue of America magazine.
Between 1965 and 2001, the number of priests fell from 58,000 to 45,000.
Ordinations of new priests fell from 994 to 509 annually over the same period, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.
Meanwhile, the number of U.S. Catholics has grown from 45 million to about 62 million.
Citing data from the National Opinion Research Center, Sullins said only 30 percent of Catholics attend Mass each week.
In the 1960s, there were fewer than 20 priests for every 10,000 weekly Mass attenders. In 2000, Sullins said, there were 27 priests for every 10,000 weekly Mass attenders.
(RNS)
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