Priests and seminarians are seen on July 21, 2024, the final day of the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, during the closing Sunday Mass. RILEY GREIF | WKC

My Dear People of God,

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) is an institute of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.  For more than six decades they have provided pastoral and statistical data on the Catholic Church in the United States. In turn, dioceses and religious communities utilize their valuable research in pastoral planning.

The Fall 2025 edition of The CARA Report offered some interesting statistics that I want to share with you. Their latest published statistics are from 2024 and often they track how these stats have evolved since beginning their research in 1965 (CARA was founded in 1964).

In 1965 there were 45.6 million Catholics in the United States. In 2024 there are reported to be 67.3 million Catholics and tracking this number over six decades reflects steady growth, though there was a slight decline in the last decade; in 2015 there were 68.1 million Catholics. 

Of course, these stats do not reveal the number of Catholics “in the pew” on a weekly or regular basis, but rather count those who identify themselves as Catholics.

In 1965 there were 58,632 priests serving that Catholic population of 45.6 million. Today there are approximately 33,574 priests in the U.S. serving 67.3 million. And it should be noted that a more significant percentage of priests in 2024 are retired as compared to 1965.

Let those numbers sink in!

In 1965 there was 1 priest for every 777 Catholics in the U.S. In 2024 there is 1 priest for every 2,004 Catholics. There are only a fraction of priests teaching in Catholic schools compared to 1965. In 1965 virtually all positions of leadership in dioceses were held by priests. Women religious, historically serving as teachers in many Catholic schools, then took up the call to fulfill many of these roles later on. 

Today in the Diocese of Owensboro our priests serve in parishes, campus ministry, vocations ministry, hospital pastoral care, tribunal ministry, and serve as military chaplains. I am the only priest working fulltime in diocesan administration at this time. The numbers of women religious, also, have decreased drastically. Fortunately, qualified and called lay men and women have been educated and trained for leadership within the Church and fill these positions in our diocesan offices today, not to mention many other roles of service to the Catholic faithful. 

The CARA report also presents some other statistics on the Catholic Church in the world. In 2024 there are estimated to be 1,405,454,000 Catholics. That’s one billion! This reflects a worldwide growth of 5.8% since 2018. In the U.S. that growth has been 3.4%.  

The Church is growing fastest on the continent of Africa – 15.4% since 2018. The number of priests on the continent has grown by a comparable 15.3% over the same period. Compare that to North America where the Church has grown by 3.4% since 2018, but the number of priests has declined by 7.6% over the same period.

South America as a continent has the largest Catholic population. We do well to note that South America claims Pope Leo as their own as he has spent much of his priesthood there as a missionary and then as a bishop. He succeeded Argentinian Pope Francis, so the influence of South American Catholics has been notable.

Catholic means universal and the statistics certainly portray the universal character of Catholicism.

May God bless you all,

Most Reverend William F. Medley
Diocese of Owensboro

Originally printed in the November 2025 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic.