Newly ordained Catholic priests in the United States are now overwhelmingly theologically conservative, with progressive clergy virtually disappearing among the youngest cohorts, according to survey data recently released from the National Study of Catholic Priests and highlighted by sociologist of religion Ryan Burge.
The data reveal a striking generational reversal in the theological profile of the Catholic priesthood. Among priests ordained in the most recent years, 84 per cent describe their theology as conservative, while just 2 per cent identify as progressive. By contrast, among priests ordained in the late 1960s, 68 per cent described their theology as progressive and only 16 per cent conservative, indicating a near-total inversion in the ideological composition of the clergy over the past six decades.
