Three percent of those encouraged by parents said they expected to pursue a church vocation, while only 1 percent of those without such encouragement expected to do so. CARA conducted the study earlier this year for the U.S. bishops' Committee on Vocations, with support from the Serra International Foundation. CARA surveyed 749 Catholic youths involved in 80 parish youth ministry programs around the country. It also surveyed 423 parents of those young people.
Youth think about church vocations in large numbers.
It said that those less interested in church vocations also were more likely to cite restrictions on freedom, desire for personal or material success and fear of making a lifetime commitment as reasons for their hesitancy. On the other hand, it said, those who have seriously considered a church vocation tend not to regard those concerns as obstacles. The opposite reactions of the two groups to the challenges of a vocation led CARA to conclude that any attempt to water down vocational demands in order to get wider appeal could backfire. Such an approach 'could well have the unanticipated consequence of actually reducing the appeal of vocations to those most interested,' the report said. CARA also found, as numerous other studies have, that young people who have seriously considered a vocation tend to be those who are actively involved in liturgical roles and devotions and those who place high value on daily Mass, their faith lives and involvement in parish life.