Morale, Leadership, and Pastoral Priorities

On October 14, 2025, The Catholic Project released the highlights from Wave 2 of the National Study of Catholic Priests. 

This study began in 2022 with three parts: 

1. A census of bishops
2. A survey of 10,000 priests (receiving 3516 responses)
3. In-depth interviews of over 100 priests

The first report, released in October 2022, was Well-being, Trust, and Policy in a Time of Crisis. In November 2023, we released a second report with new insights from the same data set, entitled Polarization, Generational Dynamics, and Ongoing Impact of the Abuse Crisis.

In 2025, we surveyed the original 3,516 priests again in order to follow up with them on a few topics, such as their morale and confidence in leadership, and to ask new questions about their pastoral priorities. You can see the survey here.