CHURCH GROWTH FORMING VOID IN LEADERSHIP.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Daily News Staff Writer

Of the nearly 200 men who apply to St. John's Seminary every year, only a few dozen make it to divinity school and about 20 of those are ordained.

The number of priests coming out of St. John's has remained fairly constant since the 1950s - not nearly enough to tend to the skyrocketing number of Catholics, who now total nearly 3.7 million in Los Angeles.

A shortage of priests is being experienced nationwide, as aging priests retire and fewer young men train to replace them. In Los Angeles, the nation's largest archdiocese, 450 active priests serve its 280 parishes, down from 600 priests just a decade ago.

That's enough for each parish to have a pastor, but not an assistant. In some instances, this leaves just one priest responsible for the parishioners' daily spiritual needs and up to eight Masses on Sunday.

``One man can't do all that,'' said the Rev. Dick Martini, director of vocations for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

To meet the demand, the church has embarked on bold recruitment campaigns to individually invite young Catholics to the vocation.

``We can learn from other organizations,'' said the Rev. Timothy Reker, director of the U.S. Bishop's office for vocations, which is in the final year of its Future Full of Hope recruiting campaign. ``We are not the military, we are not IBM, but we can take advantage of some PR and some advertising.''

Reker points to a national survey of young Catholics released this year that shows that while one-third have considered the religious life, only 6 percent have gone on to pursue it.

``There isn't that natural invitation taking place. It's amazing the high number of people who feel they may be called,'' Reker said, ``but they're not invited.''