Q.
How many priests are in America?
A. The Church has over
41,406 diocesan and religious-order priests in the United States; over
30,000 lay ministers (80% of them women),
17,000 men who are ordained as permanent deacons in the United States (a permanent deacon is a man, either married or single, who is ordained to the order of deacons, the first of three ranks in ordained ministry. They assist priests in administrative and pastoral roles),
63,032 sisters,
5,040 brothers,
16 US Cardinals,
424 active and retired US bishops in the United States, and
5,029 seminarians enrolled in the United States. Overall, it employs more than one million employees with an operating budget of nearly 100 billion dollars to run parishes, diocesan primary and secondary schools, nursing homes, retreat centers, diocesan hospitals, and other charitable institutions.
150,000
Catholic school teachers operate in the United States, teaching
2.7 million students.
In the world (2004-2005), the number of religious and diocesan priests passed from 405,891 to
406,411 (a growth of 0.13%).
The number of candidates to the priesthood, both diocesan and religious, also increased overall, passing from 113,044 in 2004 to
114,439 in 2005 (an increase of 1.23 percent). ---
Catholics News Agency, dated 2/07