More religious orders ordaining men

The number of distinct communities ordaining men has been slowly climbing in the past several years, from 28 religious institutes with ordinations in 2015 to 52 in 2019.

In addition, 51 more men were slated to be ordained this past year in the United States than last year, although that number has ebbed and flowed in the past 10 years, generally between 400 to 600.

These findings come from the latest annual study of men entering the priesthood, conducted for the U.S. bishops' conference by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. The NRVC organizes annual reports about ordinations, entries into religious institutes, and final vows under the "Studies" tab on nrvc.net.

Photo by Province of St. Joseph, Flicker CC.