Report: Graduate, college-level seminary enrollments continued to slide

(OSV News) -- Graduate-level and college-level enrollment at Catholic seminaries in the U.S. were down significantly in the 2024-2025 academic year, while high school seminary enrollment has held steady, according to statistics released by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in its Fall 2025 CARA Report. The figures highlighted in its quarterly newsletter were drawn from the organization's June 2025 "Statistical Overview of Catholic Priests' Formation in the United States for 2024-2025," produced by CARA executive director Jesuit Father Thomas P. Gaunt and researcher Emma C. Mitchell. CARA -- which has collected data on U.S. Catholic seminary enrollment since the 1967-1968 academic year -- said that the 2024-2025 college seminary enrollment stood at 840, down 6% from 889 the previous academic year.  At 300, current high school seminary enrollment was up 2% from the previous academic year's 295. But enrollment in graduate-level seminary studies dropped 8% from 2,920 in 2023-2024 to 2,686 the following academic year. Overall, the numbers show that the slide in seminarians has continued both long-term and recent trends.  In the 1970-1971 academic year, graduate-level priestly formation stood at 6,426 seminarians. During the 2020-2021 academic year, when the COVID-19 pandemic took place, there were 3,110 such seminarians. Similarly, college seminarians have declined from 7,917 in the 1970-1971 academic year, and from 1,118 in the 2020-2021 academic year. The number of high school seminarians has dropped precipitously from 8,611 in 1970-1971, and from 336 in 2020-2021. More than three quarters (76%) of those enrolled in graduate-level programs in 2024-2025 -- offered by seminaries known as theologates -- are candidates for diocesan priesthood, up from 72% the previous year, while 24% are seeking ordination in religious institutes, down from 28% the previous year. The nation's overall number of theologates, where diocesan seminarians typically live as they receive their education and priestly formation, is currently at 41, down from 47 in 2002-2003.  CARA's most recent data showed a significant percentage (17%) of theologate students are foreign-born -- down from 22% last year -- with Vietnam (80) the primary country of origin, followed by Mexico (37), Nigeria (34) and Colombia (32).  Most of the foreign-born seminarians (57%) will be ordained for a U.S. diocese or a U.S.-based religious order (29%). Another 15% will serve a non-U.S. diocese (9%) or non-U.S.-based religious order (6%). Theologate students are largely white (58%), a trend that is expected to hold (at 57%) into the 2029-2030 academic year. Latino seminarians constituted just 13% of seminarians in theologates, but were expected to rise to 16% by the 2029-2030 academic year.  Asian/Pacific Islander (10%), Black/African American (4%) and other ethnicities (14%) comprised the remainder of the cohort. Four in 10 seminarians in theologates were also between the ages of 25-29, with seminarians under 25 years old accounting for 22% of the group. Just 6% were ages 40-49, and only 3% were ages 50 and older. For 2024-2025, 840 seminarians were enrolled in college-level seminarian programs, with 34% in the first year, 22% in their second year, 23% in their third year and 20% in their fourth year. Only three high school seminaries currently remain in the U.S., representing a 97% decline from 122 in 1967. At that time, there were 36 diocesan and 86 religious high school seminaries.