WASHINGTON (CNS) — Asian-born men make up 11 percent of the ordination class of 2009 even though the number of Asian Catholics in the United States hovers around 3 percent of the total Catholic population, an annual survey of incoming priests has found.

At the same time, men of Hispanic descent make up 12 percent of the country’s ordination class this spring although the percentage of U.S. Hispanic Catholics is estimated at about 34 percent, reported the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in a study for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

About 3 percent of the new priests are African or African-American; it is the same percentage of African-American Catholics in the U.S. church.

Caucasians still dominate the class, accounting for 72 percent of the new priests, even though Caucasians make up only 58 percent of U.S. Catholics.

The survey also reported that 465 men are preparing for ordination this year, a significant increase from the 401 men in the class of 2008. Nearly 70 percent of the ordinands across the country responded to the survey. The respondents included 239 men being ordained for the diocesan priesthood and 71 for religious orders. Fifteen others did not specify their affiliation.