(OSV News) — A new study has been launched by The Catholic University of America to explore why some priests choose to exit their ministry within a few years of ordination.

“There is a perception among some bishops and other Catholic leaders that there has been an increase in the number of men leaving priestly ministry in their early years,” said university official Sara Perla. “We wanted to find out whether that has any basis in the numbers, and if so, what might be contributing to it.”

The university’s research initiative, funded by the Knights of Columbus, will “deepen understanding of the factors behind why Catholic priests decide to leave public ministry,” said lead researcher Brandon Vaidyanathan, professor of sociology at the university and director of its Institutional Flourishing Lab.

Stephen Cranney, data scientist and lecturer in the university’s global studies department, is also collaborating on the study, along with sociologists Maureen Day, visiting research fellow at Villanova University; Joseph Davis of the University of Virginia; and Caitlin Fitzgerald, a sociology doctoral student at the University of Notre Dame with previous experience in conducting several large-scale studies.

The survey — the results for which will be released sometime in the fall of 2027 — will combine quantitative and qualitative methods, with the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University compiling the data set.

That anonymized data will include priests ordained for U.S. dioceses over the past 20 years, from 2006 to 2025.’

A ‘one-by-one’ inquiry — for 9,000 names

Jesuit Father Thomas P. Gaunt, executive director of CARA, told OSV News that roughly 9,000 U.S. diocesan priests were ordained during that period — and tracking their current status to determine which have left the priesthood is a significant undertaking.

“We’ve got 9,000 names, and we have to figure out where every one of them is today,” he said.

Father Gaunt explained that his team is relying on open-source research, such as Google queries on individual priest names, in addition to checking against diocesan clergy lists and resources such as The Official Catholic Directory, an annual statistical overview of the U.S. Catholic Church endorsed for use by the nation’s bishops.

The open-source searches enable the CARA researchers to account for changes in priestly status — such as medical leave, death and temporary assignments elsewhere — that take place between directory and website updates, said Father Gaunt.

The process is a “one-by-one” inquiry, he said — and, he added, “the dilemma is being able to identify and then contact those who have left the priesthood.”

“When you make an inquiry with the diocese, very properly they come back and say, ‘It’s none of your business,'” due to “the privacy rights of the individual,” he explained.

Reasons for leaving? A ‘whole mix’

A “whole mix” of reasons are cited by diocesan priests who have left their ministry, said Father Gaunt.

“There were those who realized, ‘This is not God’s calling; it’s a mistake,’ and they leave. And in a sense, they’re happy campers,” he said. “There are others who are embittered by (their experience with) the bishop. And then there are others who say, ‘Well, this was a traumatic part of my life, and I don’t want to revisit it.’ They’re not going to go there because it’s too difficult or painful; it’s not a moral issue or anything else.”

At the same time, several dozen former diocesan priests have already opted to be part of the qualitative portion of the study, which will entail “semi-structured” interviews that are “between 60 and 90 minutes” in length, said Vaidyanathan.

“We will look at all the following areas: background and call, formation and ordination, time in ministry, the emergence of doubts and decision to leave, and life after ministry,” he said.

Robust response

Vaidyanathan clarified that the qualitative portion would focus on men ordained after 2000 and who “left public ministry with the knowledge of their bishop or religious superior within 10 years of ordination.”

The men are not required to have been formally laicized, he said.

In addition, he said, those who were removed from ministry by a canonical process, or who abandoned their ministry without the knowledge of their bishop or religious superior, are excluded from the study.

Perla noted the response to the study’s qualitative segment has been robust.

“Within a week, we received 61 responses to our call for participants,” she said. “This was more than we expected, and speaks to their willingness to share their experiences.”

‘For the benefit of the whole Church’

Perla and Vaidyanathan said they hoped the research initiative would accomplish a number of aims.

“When someone leaves, it is important to ask questions, and to learn from it, for the benefit of the whole Church,” said Perla.

Vaidyanathan agreed, saying the study would also help “bishops and other Catholic leaders to identify and respond to warning signs.”

He added, “It will also help the Church understand the experiences of these men in their own words.”

Perla also pointed to the study’s potential to “enhance public appreciation for the priests who persevere in their vocations for the whole of life, when we honestly confront some of the challenges that they face.

“The faithful generally want to support their priests, and this study may provide us concrete ways to do so,” she said.

Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.