It seems to me that the vocation "crisis" is precipitated by people who want to change the Church's agenda, by people who do not support orthodox candidates loyal to magisterial teaching of the Pope and the bishops, and by people who actually discourage viable candidates from seeking priesthood and vowed religious life as the Church defines these ministries.
Archbishop Eldon Curtiss, foreward to Goodbye, Good Men.
In my book Goodbye, Good Men (Regnery, 2002), I investigated an intriguing thesis put forth by Archbishop Elden Curtiss. In 1995 he wrote in the pages of the Social Justice Review that orthodoxy breeds vocations, claiming that religious orders and dioceses that supported orthodox candidates to the priesthood and did not tolerate dissent from the Magisterium had documented increases in the number of candidates. My years of research on this and related topics led me to conclude that the Archbishop’s remarks were sound.
Michael Rose
I've heard that too. But, in order to replace the priests who are retiring or dying off, every diocese would have to ordain numbers in double digits.
This Queen Mary may turn around, but it will take several years.
The Church has got to come to terms with priestless parishes, and lay run parishes, for several decades to come.