Brooklyn diocese sets its own trend with ordination of 10 new priests
70 Percent of this Year’s Class Is Foreign-Born, Compared to 30 Percent Nationally
Several Roman Catholic dioceses around the U.S. have been reversing a shortage of priests, with a trend showing an increase in ordinations over the past several years. The Diocese of Brooklyn, which ordained 10 men to the diocesan priesthood last Saturday, is among the top-ranked.
The Diocese of Brooklyn is the eighth largest and the only entirely urban diocese in the U.S. For the third consecutive year, the Brooklyn Diocese has ordained at least 10 men to the priesthood. In 2014, the ordination class of 13 men put the diocese at the top of rankings for that year.
Nationally, the Brooklyn Diocese and other sources reported that Brooklyn ranked “among the top dioceses in the nation in terms of new priests” for the Ordination Class of 2016. However, a more precise figure was not yet available and a spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops told the Brooklyn Eagle in an email on June 9 that the national statistics had not yet been compiled.