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After long slump, number of Catholic seminarians on the rise

After decades of glum trends—fewer priests, fewer parishes—the Catholic Church in the United States has a statistic to cheer: more men are now enrolled in graduate-level seminaries—the main pipeline to the priesthood—than in nearly two decades.

This year’s tally of 3,694 graduate theology students represents a 16 percent in­crease since 1995 and a 10 percent jump since 2005, according to George­town University’s Center for Applied Re­search in the Apostolate (CARA).

Seminary directors cite more encouragement from bishops and parishes, the draw of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and the social-justice-minded Pope Francis, and a growing sense that the church is past the corrosive impact of the sexual abuse crisis that exploded in 2002.