Soon-to-be Ordained Priests Getting Younger Than in Previous Years | EWTN News Nightly

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A new survey finds the latest group of soon-to-be ordained priests are younger than in years past. The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University found that half of the seminarians graduating this year will be 31 years old or younger when they are ordained. On average, since 1999, most ordinands were typically in their mid-30s. Additionally the survey found that the majority of seminarians first considered becoming a priest when they were only 16 years old and 90% said they usually received encouragement to do so from their parish priest, a fellow parishioner and/or a friend. Executive Director of CARA, Fr. Thomas Gaunt, joins to tell us a bit more about CARA and the purpose of conducting this annual survey. One of the other study findings that stood out was that many of the ordinands were involved in their local communities growing up, including being part of a parish youth group and other groups like boy scouts. Fr. Thomas shares more about that. He fills us in on other factors that contributed to the ordinands' decisions. ------------ EWTN News Nightly provides the latest news and analysis from a Catholic perspective. Join host Tracy Sabol, our Capitol Hill, White House and Rome Correspondents, as well as many other diverse guests daily, to get the latest from the U.S. and the Vatican on topics regarding our Catholic faith and interests. ------------- EWTN News Nightly airs on EWTN weekdays at 6pm & 9pm ET. ------------ Don't miss an episode of EWTN New Nightly. Get updates here: https://www.ewtn.com/tv/shows/ewtn-news-nightly ------------- Sign up today to receive the EWTN News Nightly newsletter: https://www.ewtn.com/enn ------------- Follow EWTN News Nightly on Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ewtnnewsnightly Twitter: https://twitter.com/EWTNNewsNightly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ewtnnewsnightly/ ------------- Subscribe to EWTN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/EWTN ------------- You can support the EWTN News mission: https://bit.ly/3qDR1qf