“In Yucatan there are around 150 active priests; more than 50 percent of them are over 60 years old, and they have to serve more than two million inhabitants statewide, which is why a greater number of young people who opt for the consecrated life are required”, said the Archdiocese of Yucatan.
Father Cristian Cáceres Solís, Prefect of the Seminary, said that the age average of the clerics in the state complicates the statistics, the figure reaches 200, taking into account the sick, or that due to age they are retired.
The Archdiocese of Yucatan needs more priests
Father Cáceres specified that there was an approximate decrease of 25 percent in the number of candidates, however, the number is on the move, half of the previous cycle was very eventful due to the pandemic and we currently have 60 candidates for the Minor Seminary, there was a slight increase and for the Mayor Seminary there was a decrease, but there are 35 seminarians in both houses.
Cáceres Solís explained that three priests are about to be ordained and three more people are in their penultimate year, on average there are six in the last 30 months of preparation, and there is a perseverance rate between 25 and 30 percent, but this changes according to age, there are people who enter from the Minor Seminary, from high school, and there are those who enter the seminary after finishing college.
“During the worst part of the pandemic, the seminarians who live in the two houses were quarantined, they did not go home, and took their classes online in order to protect their health.,” Father Cristian Cáceres Solís, Prefect of the Merida Seminary concluded.
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