Full Pews and Empty Altars: Demographics of the Priest Shortage in United States Catholic Dioceses.

Abstract

The Roman Catholic Church faces a huge loss of diocesan priests in the United States. Constructing a census-registry of 36,000 priests from 1966 to 1984, and using life-table techniques, the authors foretell a dramatic future loss of priests, while predicting a rise in the churchgoing population.