Sister Mary and Catholic decline

Sister Mary Sinnott is 96 years old. She has just celebrated 75 years as a nun serving in education. Her story appeared in our community newspaper.

Two things occurred to me as I read it. Firstly, I hope I look that good if I every reach 96! Secondly, the Catholic church is in serious trouble in the West.

Catholic religious orders are the functional equivalent to Protestants mission agencies, or the early Methodist circuit riders, or Salvation Army officers, or Youth With a Mission or Campus Crusade. The Orders are the dedicated foot soldiers of Catholicism.

Here’s the trouble for Catholicism: I’d be surprised if there are any other younger Sisters waiting in the wings to replace Sister Mary. For over a generation the religious orders have been in free fall. Massive numbers existing. Small intakes. An aging membership.

The problem is less obvious than the crisis in the numbers of priests. The consequences for Catholicism are just as serious.

Don’t think your movement is immune from the same trends.

If you are sufficiently concerned, have a look at Disappearing Nuns and Reappearing Nuns.

Catholicism Religious Orders

By: Steve | 04/20/06 | 4. Decline | Trackback | Comments [RSS 2.0]

2 Responses to “Sister Mary and Catholic decline” »»

Bayard Taylor

Comment by Bayard Taylor | 04/21/06 at 12:18 pm

Hi Steve. Thanks for your website. It’s a fantastic resource.

Decline is at least partially related, I believe, to lack of teaching on the uniqueness of Christian faith, and this in turn relates to lack of understanding about worldview and worldviews.

I’ve just written a simple, fun beginner’s book on the concept of worldview, the major worldviews and how the biblical worldview stacks up side-by-side to the alternatives.

The title is Blah, Blah, Blah: Making Sense of the World’s Spiritual Chatter (Bethany House, releasing May 3). You can read about it at blahblahbook.com. There you can also download the first three chapters, see my bio, my endorsements, and catch a lot of other good stuff.

I wrote the book particularly with pre-, mid-, and post-college people in mind. For the pre-group, to prep them for the worldview challenges they will surely encounter in their future studies. For the mid-group, to help them cut through all the tangle of philosophies/religions/worldviews that really smart and nice people strongly advocate in academia and give them a start at managing and categorizing all that information. For the post-group, to help the figure out why they may still be spiritually woozy from what hit them in college.

Among my big aims is to slow down deconversion—the steady loss of Christian young people during their college years to alien and hostile worldviews. This is a (decline) problem that really hampers what you’re trying to accomplish, Steve, with CRM’s church growth movements, discipleship, evangelism and the rest.

But my goal isn’t just negative: I want people who read my book to be more confident, effective public representatives of Christian faith in the increasingly pluralistic marketplace of ideas. I want people to get really excited about what they have in Christ. When people have worldview as a powerful analytical tool in their toolbelt, they’re rock solid on how Christian faith best answers the deepest human questions and needs.

Steve, with your background and compared to the other books on your blog’s reading list, my book will be a light, easy read.

I’d love to get some feedback on this project from someone like you. Would you like me to send you a review copy? You can reach me at my blog (at blahblahbook.com) or reply to this email. But I need to hear from you by Sunday because Monday’s when I’ll turn my list of review readers in. (I tried a couple of times but failed to reach you at the email address provided on this website. Sorry if this personal message clogs your blog.)

Sincerely, Bayard Taylor
Steve

Comment by Steve | 04/21/06 at 7:37 pm

Bayard, thanks for your persistence. I’ll look into the problem with the email address. How about I download the first three chapters and get back to you. I’ll send you an alternate email address directly. Won’t do it here due to the threat of spammers.

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Sister Mary and Catholic decline

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