Deacon Steve Kramer, the director of homiletics and an associate professor of pastoral studies at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology just outside of Milwaukee, said the school has seen several distinct increases in enrollment in recent years. He speculated that recent world events may be driving localized spikes in enrollment.
“I think that during COVID, a lot of people had some time to think,” he said. “And during that time, maybe this little germ of an idea they had sitting in their head, perhaps the Spirit was able to talk to them. Because the last couple of years have been pretty good for us vocationally.”
Father Eric Garris, the vocations director for the Diocese of Cleveland, agreed that the COVID crisis is also likely giving a boost to some seminary numbers.
“For many seminarians, COVID was a game-changer,” he told CNA. “Many of them sat alone in a room with their thoughts and decided: ‘I want to live for something.’”
“COVID was a catalyst for a lot of young men,” he said. “It wasn’t just the sense of their mortality looming. I think it gave them the opportunity to reevaluate their lives and ask, ‘What am I living for, why am I living?’”
In contrast to the overall continuing decline in seminary numbers, Garris said Cleveland’s numbers have been “pretty stable” over roughly the last 15 years. As with St. Louis, Garris said Cleveland has at times had to address priest shortages by closing or merging parishes.
“It’s taken some time,” he said, “and it’s worked well. A lot of our vibrant parishes are the ones that have experienced closures or mergers. Our priests are becoming pastors earlier than normal.”
Reflecting on how to bring more men into the priesthood, Father Taphorn pointed to then-Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks in 2008 on the decline of vocations in the U.S.
Benedict at the time was engaged in an apostolic visit to the United States, his only time visiting the country. “To the extent that we teach young people to pray, and to pray well, we will be cooperating with God’s call,” Benedict said. “... Young people, if they know how to pray, can be trusted to know what to do with God’s call.”
Taphorn said inculcating young men with a “life of prayer” will help continue to drive up vocational numbers.
“By the time we receive them, there’s already been a discernment,” he said. “They’re sort of in the final part of their vocation. Vocations are borne of prayer. It’s a very intimate call from God.”
“It’s not so much advertising, or the latest posters,” he continued. “That’s all kind of nice. But I really think it’s much more intimate than that. God is calling. It’s not on him. It’s on us. So the question is, are we listening?”
Garris, meanwhile, said the times have changed but that there are nevertheless encouraging signs for the priesthood and the Church.
“There’s a lot of, ‘We’re in a crisis, we’re in a shortage,’” he said. “[But] we have people stepping up and saying, ‘I will follow.’”
“We’re not where we were in the ’60s,” he said. “But we don’t need to be. For a lot of young people, they see the things the world is offering and they say, ‘I want to choose something better.’”
Daniel Payne is a senior editor at Catholic News Agency. He previously worked at the College Fix and Just the News. He lives in Virginia with his family.