The Current Reality

In 1960 the Diocese of Madison had roughly 149,000 Catholics, 137 parishes and 181 diocesan priests.  This resulted in an average of 1.32 priests per parish and one priest per 832 Catholics.  This does not factor in the 62 religious order priests who often served in parishes at least on a part-time basis.

Today, the diocese has 270,000 Catholics, 135 active parishes and 91 active diocesan priests. Now, rather than "priests per parish," we have nearly 1.5 parishes per priest and one priest per 2,967 Catholics.

Although Bishop Morlino and Monsignor Jim Bartylla, the diocesan director of vocations, are working diligently and with great success at encouraging priestly vocations, the fruits of these labors take years to ripen.  Thus, the diocese faces a strong probability that it will have about 53 active priests in 2015 to serve a projected 294,000 Catholics, a ratio of one priest to nearly 5,500 Catholics.