The survey found a perception that younger priests are “more theologically conservative or orthodox than their older counterparts,” writes Mr. priests conducted by The Los Angeles Times in 2002. Report co-authors compared the new results with a survey of U.S. Researchers emailed 50-question surveys to priests, whose names were found in the Official Catholic Directory and on the email list of an unnamed Catholic nonprofit group. The “2021 Survey of American Catholic Priests” was conducted late last year and early this year by the Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture. political divide are largely pessimistic about the state of the U.S. “As it happens, if one segment of Catholic priests can be identified as relatively less pessimistic, it is those who call themselves politically moderate.” “Just over half indicate things in the Catholic Church in America are ‘not so good,’ and this holds true across the full range of the political spectrum,” wrote report co-author Brad Vermurlen, of the University of Texas at Austin, in the journal Public Discourse. priests were also notably more negative in their assessments of Pope Francis. They also view their brethren as increasingly “theologically conservative or orthodox,” thanks to younger members of the clergy.

2 and based on an email poll of 1,036 Catholic clergymen.

church and its future, according to a study released on Nov.

The priests