Sacred Callings is an innovative sociological study of cross-national trends in the global Catholic priesthood. Based on a comparative-historical analysis of priesthood trends in Argentina, Malta, Nigeria, and the Philippines during 1950–2010, the monograph investigates how significant developments within the Catholic Church have shaped the evolution of vocations over time.
The book introduces and tests a new critical events theory, proposing a four-part framework—ecumenical councils, prophetic stances, sexual scandals, and papal visits—to help explain variation in priesthood trends. It demonstrates how these events operate as cues for religious callings, as well as how they interact with another.
Amid a global demographic shift in the Catholic priesthood —marked by declining vocations in Western regions and growing numbers in countries such as Nigeria—Sacred Callings provides a timely analysis of an important dynamic in the contemporary Church. In doing so, it offers fresh theoretical and empirical insights into the role of short-term events in shaping religious change in modern societies.
Brian Conway is assistant professor of sociology at Maynooth University, Ireland.
