How Catholic Homeschooling Is Shaping the Future of the Priesthood
The Homeschool-to-Vocation Pipeline?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church memorably refers to the family as the “domestic church” (CCC 1656). For it is within the family where the Gospel is first heard, where the Christian faith is modeled, and where one discovers their vocation in life. It is here that children are first educated. “The home is the first school of Christian life and a school for human enrichment,” the Catechism says, for “here one learns endurance and the joy of work, fraternal love, generous—even repeated—forgiveness, and above all divine worship in prayer and the offering of one’s life” (CCC 1658).
Given the special connection between family life and the Catholic faith, might we assume there is any correlation between homeschooling and priestly vocations? After all, if the family is the primary school of faith—and if homeschooled children’s formation is more profoundly nurtured within the ecclesia domestica—is it reasonable to assume homeschooling families may produce priestly and religious vocations at a higher rate than the general population?
There is actually some data on this question, which we will explore in today’s article.
Homeschooling and Religious Vocations
In 2024, The Pillar’s Brendan Hodge did a study on the relationship between homeschooling and vocations in the United States. Entitled “Homeschool and the Church’s Future,” the piece was occasioned by a highly publicized incident in the Diocese of San Diego wherein that diocese had forbade homeschooling groups from meeting at parishes within the diocese. Mr. Hodge’s article sought to investigate the correlation between homeschooling and vocations to see if the former positively impacted the latter. The results of his investigation suggested that not only is there a positive correlation, but that the priesthood of the future might draw heavily from homeschooled families.
What the Data Reveals
For data, Mr. Hodge drew on the General Social Survey (GSS) for 1998-2000. The GSS is a major sociological survey that conducts interviews with panels of respondents every two years, including a question asking about the type of school respondents’ children attended. The General Social Survey found that approximately 3.5% of Catholic families were homeschooling between 1998 and 2000, compared to 20.7% with children in Catholic schools. COVID-19 disrupted everything, briefly pushing the national homeschool rate to 11% before settling at 5.4% as of March 2024 (as we have documented). This is well above the pre-pandemic baseline of 3.3%. If the relationship between the general rate and the Catholic rate has held steady, this means that about 7% of Catholic families are now homeschooling their children.
This is highly relevant to a second study done by CARA, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. CARA has annual surveys of newly ordained priests and newly professed religious. In 2023, 11% of newly ordained priests had been homeschooled at some point during their schooling, and 14% of newly professed religious had been as well. These are the priests and religious who were school age in 1998-2000, during the GSS study. When those men and women were in elementary school, Catholic homeschoolers made up roughly 3.5% of the Catholic school-age population. Hodge reasons that for that 3.5% to produce 11% of priestly vocations and 14% of religious vocations, homeschooled Catholic students must be pursuing vocations at three to four times the rate of the general Catholic population.
The Future of the Priesthood
As interesting as this is, we have to keep in mind that we are looking at the effects of educational trends from a generation ago. 11% of vocations today come from homeschooling families because 3.5% of Catholic children were homeschooled a generation ago. However, the number of Catholic children being homeschooled today is far higher than 3.5%. In fact, it has doubled to around 7%. If homeschooled children pursue vocations at a rate three to four times higher than their non-homeschooled peers, this means that if trends continue, by 2050, 20% to 30% of vocations will come from people who were homeschooled. Within twenty-five years, one out of every three priests and religious will likely be drawn from homeschooling families.
This suggests that homeschooling families have an oversized footprint on the future of the American church relative to their size, a footprint that will only continue to increase with every passing year. Homeschool families are, quite literally, a substantial part of the future of the American priesthood.
Nurturing the Ecclesia Domestica
None of this should be entirely surprising for homeschooling families. The ecclesia domestica is not merely a metaphor. When the Church calls the family the first school of faith, she means it in the most concrete sense. It is where children learn to pray, to sacrifice, to serve, and to listen for the voice of God in the ordinary rhythms of daily life. A child who has spent twelve years learning at home, immersed in a family culture of faith and formation, has had twelve years of practice at exactly the kind of interior attentiveness that the priesthood and religious life demand.
Again, the Diocese of San Diego made headlines a few years ago for barring homeschool groups from parish facilities. With parochial school enrollments on a global decline, diocesan authorities sometimes view homeschooling as a threat to parochial schools. As I have argued elsewhere, I believe this approach is short-sighted. Not only are homeschoolers not in competition with diocesan schools, but the data suggests that homeschoolers could be propping up diocesan priesthoods within a generation. If so, anti-homeschooling policies like those of the San Diego diocese deserve a second look.
Working Together to Foster Every Vocation
Homeschooling families are not an eccentric fringe on the edges of Catholic life. They are, by the numbers, among the most generative communities the Church in America has. Bishops and pastors who want to know where the priests and religious of 2045 are coming from would do well to find them, welcome them, and get out of their way.
The takeaway is clear: Catholic homeschooling families are not merely educating their own children. They are helping shape the future of the Church. Dioceses and parishes that embrace these families are investing in tomorrow’s faithful Catholic spouses, devoted single men and women, priests, deacons, and religious.
Pastors can support homeschool parents by welcoming homeschool groups into parish life, offering regular opportunities for the sacraments, encouraging service opportunities, and recognizing parents as partners in the Church’s mission of forming disciples. Homeschooling can be one of the most fruitful expressions of the domestic church. When families, parishes, and dioceses work together, everyone benefits. And the Church would be strengthened for generations to come.
What are your thoughts on this topic? I invite you to join other homeschooling parents and me in the Homeschool Connections Community or our Facebook group.
