2,980 men are preparing for priestly ordination as diocesan seminarians in the Latin-rite dioceses of the United States, according to data published in the most recent (2024) edition of The Official Catholic Directory. Diocesan chancery offices […]
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Bishop Jacques Fabre-Jeune poses alongside many of the priests of the Diocese of Charleston at a recent ordination. The diocese has seen a recent surge in vocations. (Credit: The Catholic Miscellany/Doug Deas)2,980 men are preparing for priestly ordination as diocesan seminarians in the Latin-rite dioceses of the United States, according to data published in the most recent (2024) edition of The Official Catholic Directory.
Diocesan chancery offices supply statistics to the Directory, which also offers, as of January 1, 2024, an authoritative list of tax-exempt entities under the umbrella of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The statistics published in the 2024 edition of the Directory are thus slightly over a year old; they do not take into account the men who were ordained in 2024 and the men who entered seminary in 2024.
