First Insights from Summer 2024 Parish Clergy Survey

By Nathanael Morgan

Nathanael Morgan is a senior at the Saint Constantine College and works as a research assistant for the Orthodox Studies Institute.

Clergy Survey

In September of 2024, the Orthodox Studies Institute launched the Parish Clergy Survey. Sent to dozens of American Orthodox priests across jurisdictions, the survey will be done on a quarterly basis, and will capture valuable data concerning parish size, health, growth trajectories, and other insights. This first iteration dealt with the time period from June to August. By polling the priests multiple times a year, we hope to track statistics on parish life both seasonally and across years. 

For the first iteration of the survey, 70 priests signed up to take part, of which 62 took the survey. The survey asked questions about Sunday/Saturday attendance, how many services are offered by the parish, confession rates, and how many individuals they received into Orthodoxy that quarter. The priests were also asked for basic data such as the year they became Orthodox, where they went to seminary, fire code and seating layout of the church building, and the jurisdiction to which their parish belongs. All data is kept anonymous.

Of the 62 respondents, 32% were OCA priests, 27% Antiochian, 21% Greek, and about 10% ROCOR. We also had respondents from the Serbian, Carpatho-Russian, and Moscow Patriarchal jurisdictions. The sample of participants was not random: clergy participants were either approached by OSI or volunteered to participate. Thus, we cannot generalize from our findings across all Orthodox parishes in America. However, we consider the sample representative enough to make comparative insights. 

Some of the most interesting insights from the data so far include:

  • 32% of parishes had only one priest (and no deacons) attached to the parish.
  • 42% of parishes reported that the nave is “completely full” on Sunday mornings. 16% are over fire code capacity at a typical Sunday liturgy.  
  • 17% of parishes had confession rates higher than 80% (meaning the number of people who came to confession during the 3 month period was 80% or more of the typical attendance at a Sunday liturgy). 41% had rates above 50%.
  • We found a slight negative correlation between the population density of the local area and Saturday night service attendance. In other words, the more urban the area is, the less likely people will come on a Saturday night. 
  • Confession rates are about twice as high, on average, in parishes with weekly post-liturgical meals (as opposed to a simple “coffee hour”), as compared with those that have such meals infrequently. 
  • There was also a correlation between both confession and Saturday attendance rates, and the date a parish was founded. In general, older parishes tend to have lower confession and Saturday attendance rates, and newer parishes tend to have higher rates.
  • 63% of the respondents agreed with the statement “My parish had a flood of inquirers from June to August 2024.” Only 17% disagreed. This suggests that the influx of inquirers into the Orthodox faith has not abated as of Summer 2024.

The major value from the survey data will come when we can compare the results over time. Some statistics, such as the numbers of people received into the church, are not equally represented, since many parishes only receive converts a few times a year, and often not during the summer. 

The survey administration team is incredibly grateful to all the priests who have participated, and look forward to receiving their insights in future quarters. 

If you are a parish priest in the US and are interested in contributing your insights, you can click this link to sign up for the Clergy Survey.