CARA

While scholars have studied the decline in numbers that women religious in the U.S. have faced over the past half-century, little scholarship has been produced about the trends confronting sisters in Latin America, and none, until now, has carefully examined the numbers in an effort to understand the situation of various categories of vowed life throughout the different nations in this region.

Whether in Boston in 2002, Pennsylvania in 2018, or McCarrick, the same pattern emerges. Clergy born in the 1930s, ordained in the 1960s accused of abuse during the 1960s to the 1980s. News about allegations is new but incidence of abuse today is rare. Cases in news fit historical pattern. For more analysis:

CARA was asked by the USCCB to survey all Catholic worship sites in the United States, from cathedrals to parishes to chapels. We are wrapping up data collection soon. The survey asks each site to briefly provide information about the local community with a focus on pastoral care of "people on the move." To go to the survey click "View" below. For a login or password for your site contact Mark Gray at mmg34@georgetown.edu

CARA collects data on ministry formation programs annually for the Catholic Ministry Formation Directory. This includes information about those currently preparing to become priests, deacons, and lay ecclesial ministers in the Catholic Church in the United States and the programs they are enrolled in. See who the next generation of Church leaders are and where they are studying:

What attracts women and men entering religious life to the orders they join?  Respondents to a new CARA survey say they were drawn by the institute’s spirituality, mission, community life, prayer life, and the example of its members. Nine in ten said they were at least “somewhat” attracted by those features. Two in three said they were “very much” attracted to those elements of their religious institute. Read more: