Annual survey: Traditional family biggest boon to vocations

The annual survey of women and men taking their final religious vows, conducted by Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), has been released with data collected from 2024. The survey was conducted with 194 men and women religious, of which 140 (75%) responded. 

As in previous years, the report found that the vast majority of respondents were raised by their biological parents, with at least one of the parents being Catholic. In most cases (9 in 10), however, they reported that both parents were practicing Catholics. Furthermore, a traditional family environment was found to be prevalent in respondents, with 90% reporting being raised by parents in wedlock. A further 9% reported being raised by their grandparents. 

Of the 140 respondents, 73 took vows to become sisters or nuns and 67 became brothers or priests. Their ages ranged from 25 to 69, with over half of them aged 34 or younger. Nine in 10 of them reported being born into Catholicism, while the remaining 1 in 10 reported converting to Catholicism at or before the age of 22. 

Nearly 7 in 10 (69%) reported being born in the US, with the makeup of those remaining as follows: 12% were born in Asia, 10% were born in Latin America, 6% were born in Africa, 3% were born in Canada, and 1% was born in Europe. For those who were foreign born, the average age of their coming to the US was 24. 

Once again, the prevalence of respondents reporting that they attended Catholic school suggests that Catholic education plays an influential role in vocational discernment. More than 1 in 5 (43%) attended Catholic primary school, slightly less (38%) went to Catholic high school, and 41% attended a Catholic college or university.

Many respondents also reported taking part in lay ministries before discerning their vocation. Lectoring was the most popular ministry experience, at 55%, followed by: altar servers (54%), youth ministry (45%), extraordinary minister (42%), and taking part in youth groups (49%).

Overall, 61% of both men and women reported being discouraged from entering religious life over the course of their discernment. Sisters and nuns, however, experienced this more frequently, reporting negative reactions to their discernment at 61%, while men only reported this at 43%.

See the full survey for a full summary of the results at CARA.

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