I've updated a few charts that look at the number of priests and members of religious orders over the last several decades. To avoid it looking like spaghetti, I only used the top dozen orders based on number of priests*. I also split the top 4 from the other 8 - there is very little overlap between the two sets and it makes the charts much clearer.
The charts are posted here. (.pdf format)
The Jesuits were the first order (of the top dozen) to have lost more than half of their members from their recent high point (from 36,038 in 1966 to 17,908 in 2011). They are currently at 15,591 members, down 57% from the all time high.
One might note that there is no significant change since Pope Francis (a Jesuit) became Pope. In fairness, it normally takes several years for any event in a religious order (or diocese) to have an impact on the vocation numbers.
Two more orders reached that milestone in 2016: Franciscans (now down 52%) and Oblates of Mary Immaculate (now down 52%).
Two more orders are very close to reaching that point: Redemptorists (down 47%) and Vincentians/Lazarists (down 43%). Both showed a small drop in the last year.
In terms of priests, only one order has reached that point, the Benedictines which are down 52% from their recent high point (from 7,058 in the early 1970s to 3,420 in 2019).
Three other orders are in danger of reaching that point: the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (down 49%), Jesuits (down 47%), and the Franciscans (down 46%).
In the top dozen, only one order, Divine Word Missionaries, has hit its high mark in terms of members in recent years (6,131 in 2009).
In terms of priests, two orders hit their highest mark in 2016: Divine Word Missionaries with 4,231 and Discalced Carmelites with 2,937.
The Benedictines had the best year of the top 12, increasing their number of priests by 6 and members by 184.
Overall, adding all of the top 12 together, the all time high was in 1966 with 160,926 total members. In 2019, that had dropped 42% to 93,214. In terms of priests, the high was in 1971 with 95,411 total priests. In 2019, that had dropped 33% to 64,119.
If current trends continue, the Jesuits will lose the title of largest religious order to the Salesians of Saint John Bosco. First by the number of members (4 years) and later by number of priests (11 years).
(* Out of curiosity I checked the top dozen orders based on number of members - it was the same dozen, but in a slightly different order.)
Note that only Male Religious Orders were included because that happens to be the data I have readily available. As time permits, I hope to do similar charts for Female Religious Orders.
11 comments:
Interesting piece of work David. To make helpful inferences,it would be useful to get,say,three experienced pastoral religious--not necessarily
'experts' and emphatically not committees--to discern what's unfolding. My uninformed instinct is that orders have to be holy and countercultural--signs that are contradicted by ' the world'.
Its all ( well, much if it) is in
" The Imitation of Christ".
Thanks again.
God bless.
I think it's really foolish not to think Pope Francis has no bearing on this decline. He does not inspire as a leader, this was made very clear during the epidemic. Look at Italy. In any event, I think most Catholics would rather have fewer true priests, than many priests who do not preach and live the basic tenets of our religion. A strong Pope and strong Cardinals and Bishops could clean up the church and revive our beautiful faith.
Catherine Adago
Pope Francis has no bearing on this?
Pope Francis has no bearing on this?
In the US, obe6?
In the US, only?
Most Jesuits are no longer Catholic. Exception is Fr Fesio and Fr Mitch Pacwa.
I was in the convent for almost 5 years. I can tell you that many Religious orders, female anyway,are shooting themselves in the foot by still allowing a culture of snitching, emotional abuse, and gaslighting. They need to stop and rethink whether their MO is consistent with Gospel teaching and what is healthy psychologically and emotionally. There is a quiet exodus of women who entered convents and find themselves leaving because of such abuse.
Dear David,
I am extremely grateful for your publication of these statistics which confirm the serious loss of prayer power and servant-hood in the Holy Roman Catholic Church. In response to this, I started a religious order for prison inmates in 2005 to attempt to shore up, somewhat, this gap. This order (O.S.M.B. – Order of St. Moses the Black) has now expanded to 5 prisons. We have close to 25 monks who make promises to God to spend at least an hour each day in prayer and bible study while practicing with love the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. Our lay component is our Michael the Archangel Prayer Warriors and our St. Bruno Night Warriors. Our Night Warriors, in imitation of our Carthusian religious order, get up in the middle of the night to spend up to two hours in prayer before returning to bed and finish sleeping.
I request your permission to use your material with full credit to you for purposes of education all of our warriors in our continual practices of prayer and fasting in our reparation and deliverance ministries.
May the All-Powerful, Triune God, continue to bless you, protect you from all evil, and bring you to everlasting life. Amen
†
†ed
I'd like to see a corresponding report of the Traditionalist Religious Orders and Priests. I know they have all increased over the last several decades, and I'd like to see those details.
Seeing these numbers, I do not understand how people can say that Vatican 2 did not set the Church on the road to ruination. I know the Church will never die, but the "smoke" of satan did enter the Church and is alive and well today. Pray, pray, pray.
Post a Comment