No Priest Shortage in the Archdiocese of Detroit (AOD)

Abstract

There is a common misconception in the Archdiocese of Detroit (AOD), especially among vicariate members, that there is a priest shortage when in fact there is not. Sociologists call this a ‘‘mythic fact,’’ myth in the sense of statistically not true. When the vicariate planning process began in the mid-1990s, to be sure, ‘‘priest shortage’’ may have been a more accurate description of the situation here in Detroit. Beginning in 2001, however, the USCCB asked dioceses to stop using ‘‘priest shortage’’ to describe the church’s situation and to begin using the phrase ‘‘fewer priests,’’ mainly because catholics per priest worldwide statistics show North America is priest rich (e.g., South America the ratio is 7,094:1 and in North America it is 1,229:1). In the AOD, however, the mythic fact grew because for a number of years we were only considering the ‘‘number of priests IN PARISHES’’ rather than the total number of priests. For example, in 2010 there are 293 priests in 273 parishes. Given the average age of priests is 63.4, these numbers have been interpreted (reasonably we might add) as indicative of a priest shortage because many priests will soon be retiring. But if one examines the total number of priests in the AOD, at this same time, one discovers there are 644 priests, which raises some eyebrows. First of all, with 644 priests, the AOD could assign two priests to every parish with some to spare. But clearly some of these priests are retired (143) and others are in ministries that supposedly make these priests unavailable for parish work (147—which includes bishops, provincial work, campus ministers, teachers, sabbatical, etc.), leaving the AOD with 354 priests. Nevertheless, there are 354 priests, raising the question that if there are only 273 parishes, then what are the other 81 priests doing? Obviously, they are doing something other than being pastors/associate pastors. It seems obvious to conclude therefore that parishes are