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Is There a Priest Shortage?  LAY WITNESS The number of seminarians worldwide has grown 73 percent during the pontificate of John Paul II. In 1978, there were 64,000 seminarians — compared to more than 110,500 in 2000. The greatest increases were in Africa, where the number tripled; and Asia, which showed an increase of 125 percent. As of 2000, the worldwide number of priests in active ministry increased by 189 over the previous year. This brought the total to 405,000 priests, which reflects an overall increase of nearly 800 diocesan priests, and a decrease of 600 religious priests. Baptized...

I Will Give You Shepherds: Addressing the Priest Shortage    FAITH FACTS Issue: Is there a priest shortage? What is being done to address shortages where they occur? What can be done to increase the number of candidates for ordination? Response: There is some debate as to what constitutes a priest shortage. Some compare current ratios of priests to faithful with ratios from other eras, though some say that demand for priests has diminished to the point that the ratios are not comparable. Others contend that "priest shortage" is a slogan used by those who seek structural change in...