Not many parents encourage their sons to enter the priesthood because: 1. They probably only have one son; and 2. They want grandchildren; and 3. a "good" job in the secular world, after and expensive college education is or can be financially rewarding; and 4. more importantly, imo, about 30% of Catholics attend Mass on Sunday. That leaves about 70% of Catholics not even encouraging their kids to attend Mass except maybe on Easter or Christmas, never mind encouraging them to enter the priesthood.
I was just at a cookout with five other Catholic families. Four of us have two kids each and one has one kid. My kids and I are the only ones who attend Mass at least once a week. Two attend sporadically and two families never attend at all.
The past eighteen months have no bearing on any of our religious habits... they were the same before and they are the same now. But now there is a handy excuse not to attend.
I was just at a cookout with five other Catholic families. Four of us have two kids each and one has one kid.
In other words, contraception is the major problem. Catholic Moral Theology demands that parents should strive to have at least four children (gosh, how hard is it for most who marry before age 34?). This is one reason for that.