Well people keep on saying that a time of purification is at hand. I wonder what those numbers look like in relation to enrollment in the seminaries over the past 5 years.
Val | Homepage | 05.01.06 - 3:55 am | #

The pertinent statistics are at the CARA website:
http://cara.georgetown.edu/bulle...letin/ index.htm

Since 1970 the amount of the world's population that is Catholic has stayed around 17 or 18 percent.

The big news on that page of statistics is the number of "Graduate-level Seminarians" (men studying theology as candidates for priestly ordination).
In 1980: 33,731
In 1985: 43,476
In 1990: 51,603
In 1995: 54,154
In 2000: 55,968
Meaning that since 1980 the worldwide number of candidates has grown faster than the total number of Catholics. The number of candidates in the year 2000 is a growth of 165.92% over the number in the year 1980.

The years of all those statistics happen to be the during the pontificate of John Paul II. He was an encouragement to vocations, not a deterrent.
Fr. Stephanos, O.S.B. | Homepage | 05.01.06 - 12:04 pm | #