It's not causal, certainly.
There's no reason why a Church of 62 million members is served by an ever-dwindling number of priests. The Church ought to find out why.
The Vatican, however, is not interested, and asks us to "pray" for more priests.
How many Catholic parents do you think are actively encouraging their young male children to consider the priesthood, with what has happened over the last 18 months, and continues to happen?
This is John Paul II's decision. He's a stubborn Pole, who can reach out to the Orthodox, to Protestants, hell, to Muslims, AND he can welcome Protestant ministers into the Catholic priesthood at an ever-increasing clip.
But, he cannot let the thought cross his mind that married Catholic men could be called to the priesthood.
I think it's because he knows that the whole celibacy canard could collapse, in a heap. So, better to continue the begging and pleading than to actually get at the root causes, to listen to local bishops, and to face the facts honestly.
Not many parents encourage their sons to enter the priesthood because: 1. They probably only have one son; and 2. They want grandchildren; and 3. a "good" job in the secular world, after and expensive college education is or can be financially rewarding; and 4. more importantly, imo, about 30% of Catholics attend Mass on Sunday. That leaves about 70% of Catholics not even encouraging their kids to attend Mass except maybe on Easter or Christmas, never mind encouraging them to enter the priesthood.
I was just at a cookout with five other Catholic families. Four of us have two kids each and one has one kid. My kids and I are the only ones who attend Mass at least once a week. Two attend sporadically and two families never attend at all.
The past eighteen months have no bearing on any of our religious habits... they were the same before and they are the same now. But now there is a handy excuse not to attend.