Father Chris Martin, a St. Louis native who is overseeing the All Things New process, told CNA late last year that the initiative is being undertaken from a “relative place of strength, instead of desperation,” in response to well-documented demographic changes and projections.
Numerous factors, including increasing suburbanization and rising crime, have led in recent years to an exodus of people from the city’s historic inner core, where the greatest number of large, historic parishes were clustered. Catholics have been moving gradually west for several decades, away from the city center along the Missouri River and toward the suburbs, leaving parishes in the more urban areas with smaller Catholic populations from which to draw. Overall, in 2021, the number of Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Louis dipped below 500,000 for the first time since the 1960s.
Another reason for the process, Martin says, is a priest shortage on the horizon. The archdiocese is not currently starved for priests — in fact, it has a better priest-to-parishioner ratio than the national average and one of the highest in the country for a diocese its size. According to the CARA research center at Georgetown University, the ratio for the country as a whole is one diocesan priest for every 2,096 Catholics. In St. Louis, that ratio is one diocesan priest for every 1,630 Catholics. And that doesn’t include the strong presence of religious priests active in the archdiocese, such as those belonging to the Dominican, Jesuit, and Benedictine orders.
That said, the current trajectory of St. Louis’ diocesan priest population is not sustainable long-term, Martin said. The average St. Louis diocesan priest is in his mid-60s, and priests are retiring and passing away at a greater rate than new men are being ordained — this is true of religious priests, too, he noted. (The archdiocese told CNA that the “standard age” for priestly retirement in St. Louis remains 75 years old and has not been lowered.)
Martin also stressed a distinction: Just because there are currently enough archdiocesan priests to provide pastoral care for all the people in St. Louis, that doesn’t mean they have enough priests to care for all the parishes that currently exist. Already, Martin said, the priest population in St. Louis is stretched thin because of the high number of parishes that must be maintained. If one priest has to call in sick or is otherwise indisposed, it can be a challenge to get his assignments covered because almost every other priest is already taking care of his own parish.
The number of parishes will likely exceed the number of priests by 2026, according to archdiocesan projections. Barring a massive increase in vocations, the number of priests in St. Louis will begin to decline, eventually to an untenable number. “Doing nothing” in the face of these demographic changes, Martin said, “would be irresponsible.”
Martin, a former vocations director for the diocese, said while he wholeheartedly supports a financial investment in priestly vocations, a change in culture is what is really needed, not just in St. Louis but everywhere.
“God is still calling enough priests to serve his people,” he asserted, but cultural barriers often stand in the way. He said when he worked in vocations, he observed that most young people don’t pursue vocations because they were never personally invited, or in some cases because their parents forbade it.
“It’s not about throwing resources at vocations. It’s really about developing a culture of vocations in our parishes and in our families, where it’s really something that moms and dads sincerely pray for and talk to their children about, what God may be calling them to in life,” Martin said.
Jonah McKeown is a staff writer and podcast producer for Catholic News Agency. He holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has worked as a writer, as a producer for public radio, and as a videographer. He is based in St. Louis.