Browse 114 concepts used in the study of religion, review how survey researchers measured them in the past, and quickly compare the results of more than 7,600 survey questions.
The archive is a collection of surveys, polls, and other data submitted by the foremost scholars and research centers in the world. Review and analyze data online, or download free of charge.
Examine the religious composition, religious freedoms, demographics, constitutional clauses, survey findings and multiple social and political measures for 250 nations.
View maps of the United States and individual states for hundreds of variables, including congregational membership, census data, crime statistics and many others.
Generate congregational membership reports for any county, state and urban area in the United States using data collected by the Religious Congregations & Membership Study.
The profiles chart schisms and mergers, document membership trends, offer basic descriptions, and link to additional resources for more than 400 past and present American religious groups.
Browse dozens of topics from a major national survey of religious congregations. See how the responses vary by the size, religious family and region of the congregation.
Browse dozens of topics covered by major national surveys. See how the responses vary by demographic categories and, when available, how they change over time.
View maps of the United States and individual states for hundreds of variables, including congregational membership, census data, crime statistics and many others.
Froehle, B. T. (2021, March 16). Parish Background Behind Priestly Vocations: Pastors' Survey, 1998.
Summary
Most vocation research focuses on individuals, not communities. While individual attitudes towards vocations are key, parish life itself may ultimately be as important in shaping vocations as individual attitudes or the influence of parents, mentors, or priests. The present study was designed to examine the effects of parish life on vocation. As such, it is more interested in the parishes that produce vocations than in the personal experiences and background of individuals. This study used a random sample survey to explore the effects of different forms of parish life on vocations.
There are two questionnaires archived here. A survey of pastors (this survey), and a survey of recently ordained priests (archived under the name NEWPRST). Both questionnaires were designed to help profile "multiple vocations parishes," or those that have produced three or more vocations in the past 20 years.
Data File
Cases: 1,012
Variables: 59
Weight Variable: None
Data Collection
Date Collected: Winter and Spring of 1998.
Funded By
Our Sunday Visitor, Inc. and the Secretariat for Vocations and Priestly Formation of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops
Collection Procedures
Self-administered survey
Sampling Procedures
The sampling population consisted of all pastors of parishes in the United States: a universe of 18,254 pastors. The Official Catholic Directory (OCD) maintains names and addresses for all parishes in the United States. CARA used a random number generator to select one-fourth of all Latin Rite and Eastern Rite parishes, a total of 4,549. Some 124 surveys were returned as undeliverable by the post office, for a final sample size of 4,425. The 1,012 responses to the pastors' survey represent 23 percent of those sampled.
The Parish Background Behind Priestly Vocations: Findings from National Survey of Pastors and Recently Ordained Diocesan Priests. Bryan T. Froehle, Ph.D., Dominic J. Perri, M.A., and Patricia Wittberg, SC, Ph.D., June 1998, CARA.
