The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, at Georgetown University, reports that in the United States between 1965 and 2012, the number of Roman Catholic diocesan priests declined from 35,925 to 26,661, while the Catholic population increased from 45.6 million to 66.3 million.

See the results of an August 2011 survey of 1,000 Protestant pastors by LifeWay Research that details the rewards of their work but also the challenges.

An infographic, drawn from H.B. London Jr.’s book Pastors at Greater Risk, illustrates some of the data on clergy burnout.

The website PastorBurnout.com posts statistics on the problem of clergy burnout.

A webpage dedicated to the medical and care aspects of end-of-life rights and conflicts.

A doctor’s approach to end-of-life issues through her personal eyes and those of her profession.

Richard Cooper is a partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Williams & Connolly, specializing in food and drug law. Formerly, he was general counsel at the Food and Drug Administration.

Richard A. Merrill is Daniel Caplin Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Virginia Law School in Charlottesville. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and is editor and author of multiple books on food and drug law.

Dr. Michael Grodin is professor of health law, bioethics and human rights at Boston University School of Public Health and a clinical medical ethicist for Boston Medical Center.