Psychological type profile and temperament of Catholic priests serving in England, Wales, and Ireland

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study sets the psychological type profile and temperament of 190 Catholic priests serving in England, Wales, and Ireland alongside the profile of 1,298 Catholic priests reported by Ruppart in 1985. In the current study 68% of priests preferred introversion, 61% preferred sensing, 53% preferred feeling, and 84% preferred judging, confirming the findings of other recent studies of Catholic priests in Australia and Italy of a trend towards introversion, sensing, and judging, and away from feeling. In the current study 55% presented as Epimethean Temperament (SJ) and 21% as Apollonian Temperament (NF), also confirming other recent studies that report a move toward the SJ temperament and away from the NF temperament. The implications of these findings are discussed for the expression and experience of ministry within the Catholic Church.