CENTER FOR APPLIED RESEARCH IN THE APOSTOLATE
Placing Social Science Research at the Service of the Catholic Church Since 1964
Latest News
The Impact of Marian Devotions on Vocations
This report presents findings from a survey of U.S. bishops, diocesan priests, permanent deacons, deacon directors, and major superiors of men and women about the impact of Marian devotion on their ecclesial vocations. The survey was designed by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University in collaboration with the Diocese of Saginaw. Altogether there were 1,091 respondents.
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Women and Men Entering Religious Life: The Entrance Class of 2024
This report presents findings from an annual national survey of women and men religious who formally entered a religious congregation, province, or monastery based in the United States during 2024. A total of 392 major superiors (76% of those responding) reported that they had no one enter the institute in 2024, in which 115 major superiors reported their religious institutes were not accepting new members. Another 54 major superiors (11%) reported one new entrant, and 69 major superiors (13%) reported two or more new entrants. Over the last 10 years, on average, there are 381 new members entering their religious institutes every year.
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Responding ordinands to diocesan priesthood in 2025 were, on average, 17 years old when they first considered a vocation to the priesthood.
Ordination Class of 2025
In December 2005, the Secretariat for Vocations and Priestly Formation (now the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations) of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) commissioned the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) to conduct an annual survey of responding ordinands to the priesthood. CARA recently completed the survey for new ordinands in 2025. Read the findings from the full report below.
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