By Stephen P. White

But first a note from Robert Royal: Amid all the bad news in the Church and the world - which, painful as it is, has to be faced and resisted - there's also good news sometimes to be found. Steve White found some in a place many might not have suspected: among American priests. For all the problems of the Church in America, we're doing relatively well in attracting and training priests. Numbers continue to erode slowly, but that's all the more reason to increase efforts to enliven the Church and defend her teachings. That's very much in our minds daily at The Catholic Thing, and it's largely what keeps us going every day. And then, of course, there's all of you. We're doing well in our fundraising, but it's getting near time to make the push to finish the job. You know what to do. Just do it.

Now for Mr. White's column...

Last October, The Catholic Project, which I direct at The Catholic University of America, published initial results from the largest survey of American Catholic priests in more than 50 years, the National Study of Catholic Priests (NSCP). Our initial report looked to answer several questions, including whether or not priests are flourishing (they are) and how the abuse crisis, and the Church's response to that crisis, has affected trust and confidence between priests and bishops (it has, and not for the better).

Last month, our team published a second report laying out some additional insights from the NSCP, looking more closely at polarization within the presbyterate, particularly between older and younger generations of priests.

Older priests are more likely to describe themselves as theologically "progressive" and politically "liberal," while younger priests are more likely to describe themselves as theologically "orthodox" and politically "conservative."

This result, in itself, was not especially surprising. Anecdotal evidence suggested a similar trend for decades, and other recent studies of American Catholic priests have shown a similar conservative trend among younger priests. Notably, recent comments from both Pope Francis and Cardinal Christophe Pierre indicate that Rome is uneasy about what it sees as conservative trends among younger American clergy.

In short, our study demonstrated with hard data what everyone already knew: young American priests tend to be more conservative than their older peers. But that's not all our data showed. It turns out that the narrative that young conservative men are taking over the American presbyterate isn't as straightforward as it might seem.

First, our data suggests not so much a triumphant flood of conservative vocations as a near-total collapse of priestly vocations from men who see themselves as theologically progressive or politically liberal. What's more, this collapse isn't a sudden or recent trend, but appears to be steady and unbroken all the way back to the cohorts ordained in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council. If I were a bishop or vocations director, I would be very eager to better understand this collapse.

One explanation can be found in a homily given by the late Cardinal Francis George. Even a quarter-century later, his words retain a striking relevance:

Liberal Catholicism is an exhausted project. Essentially a critique, even a necessary critique at one point in our history, it is now parasitical on a substance that no longer exists. It has shown itself unable to pass on the faith in its integrity and inadequate, therefore, in fostering the joyful self-surrender called for in Christian marriage, in consecrated life, in ordained priesthood. It no longer gives us life.

Notice: Cardinal George said "exhausted," not "dead." It's fair to say that recent years have proved that any reports of liberal Catholicism's death have been greatly exaggerated. Nevertheless, if the exhaustion of liberal Catholicism explains, at least in part, the collapse of vocations from certain corners of the Church, Cardinal George's wa...