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 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 15,842 members, down 56% 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 show in the vocation numbers.
Two more orders reached that milestone in 2016:
Franciscans (now down 51%) and
Oblates of Mary Immaculate (now down 51%).
Two more orders are very close to reaching that point:
Redemptorists (down 47%) and
Vincentians/Lazarists (down 41%). 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 3,414 in 2018).
Three other orders are in danger of reaching that point: the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (down 47%), Jesuits (down 46%), and the Franciscans (down 45%).
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.
Overall, adding all of the top 12 together, the all time high was in 1966 with 160,926 total members. In 2018, that had dropped 42% to 93,596. In terms of priests, the high was in 1971 with 95,411 total priests. In 2018, that had dropped 32% to 64,821.
If current trends continue, in about 10 years, the Jesuits will lose the title of largest religious order to the
Salesians of Saint John Bosco. First by the number of members and within a few years by number of priests as well.
(* 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'll try to do similar charts for Female Religious Orders.
