WASHINGTON – According to a new survey, nine in ten men who will be ordained to the priesthood this year were encouraged to consider this vocation by someone in their life. “Encourage a young man to consider the priesthood or to attend Eucharistic Adoration; he could be your future pastor,” said Bishop Earl Boyea. On May 11, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations released the Ordination Class of 2025 Study, conducted annually by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.

Bishop Boyea, serves as chairman of the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations. “As witnesses of hope, we thank them for their courage to commit their lives to what Pope Francis said is a call that embraces their entire existence.”

Out of the 405 men who are to be ordained this year, 309 completed CARA’s Ordination Class of 2025 survey, for an overall response rate of 76%. A few of the major findings in the report:

• Nine in ten responding ordinands (89%) reported being encouraged to consider the priesthood by someone in their life, most frequently by a parish priest (60%), friend (52%), or fellow parishioner (42%).
• Two in five responding ordinands (43%) indicated that they were discouraged from considering the priesthood by one or more persons. Most often, this person was a friend or school classmate, mother, father, or other family member.
• Three-quarters of responding ordinands participated in Eucharistic Adoration (78%) on a regular basis before seminary.
• Most of the ordinands received formation at a seminary in the Midwest (37%) followed by the South (29%), Northeast (16%), West (13%), and abroad (5%).
• Responding ordinands indicate they first considered priesthood during elementary school (35%), followed by high school (20%).
• Hispanics/Latinos constituted 12% of the responding ordinands.
• Ordinands who attended Catholic elementary school constituted 46% of all respondents, and 36% attended a Catholic high school.
• Most respondents (92%) were baptized Catholic as an infant and raised primarily by their biological parents (95%).
• Ordinands who served as an altar server constituted 73% of all respondents. They represented 66% of ordinands in religious institutes and 75% of ordinands to diocesan priesthood.