Cape Girardeau's St. Vincent dePaul Church, 1913 Ritter Drive, will host a RSVP-required dinner at 6 p.m. Sunday for those interested in learning more about the Roman Catholic priesthood.

Edward M. Rice, resident bishop since 2016 of Cape Girardeau-Springfield Diocese with its 66 parishes covering 39 counties in southern Missouri, is expected to attend.

The outreach is part of Project Andrew, an attempt to interest young men in a lifelong commitment to a "holy vocation," according to the diocesan Facebook page, which cites Matthew 4:19 in the New Revised Standard Version.

In the cited biblical text, Jesus's recorded words to the brothers Andrew and Simon Peter were, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people."

Pope Francis signaled his own thoughts for such an effort, declaring July 6, 2013, shortly after his election to the papacy: "Becoming a priest or a man or woman religious is not primarily our own decision. Rather it is the response to a call and to a call of love," Francis told Catholic seminarians and novices.

Data

According to the most recent online statistics available from Washington, D.C.-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), there were 59,192 total U.S. priests in 1970; in 2021, there were 34,923.

CARA reported 3,377 American parishes do not have a resident priest, with 312 "entrusting the pastoral care of the parish to a deacon or another person."

Official Catholic Directory, citing the number of "parish-connected Catholics," said there were 66.8 million in 2021, compared to 47.9 million in 1970.

"The next time you see a priest at the grocery store, thank him, [and] say a prayer for [Catholic] vocations," wrote Mike Stechschulte, editor in chief of Detroit Catholic online magazine.