Is there a clergy shortage? Yes and no, according to an article by Patricia Chang posted by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Because most churches are small but most people go to larger churches, there are fewer opportunities for upward mobility and more jobs that remain vacant because of isolated location and low pay. The institute […]

The National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus is based in New York City.

Read a transcript of a June 30, 2006, Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly episode about a shortage of younger people interested in pastoral leadership.

St. Joseph’s Society of the Sacred Heart (The Josephites) is a Baltimore-based, interracial society of priests and brothers who work in 45 parishes in African-American communities.

Read a Jan. 23, 2009, interview with Anne Jackson, author of Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic.

The Rev. Cyprian Davis is professor emeritus of church history at St. Meinrad School of Theology in St. Meinrad, Ind. He is a Benedictine monk and has expertise on African-American Christianity and on blacks and Catholicism.

Read a Sept. 3, 2009, story about clergy sabbaticals on the Insights into Religion website.

Sister Jamie T. Phelps is a professor of systematic theology and director of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans.

Read an Aug. 1, 2010, New York Times article about the burnout problem and the benefits of taking time off from ministry duties.