CARA

CARA has often referred to a “Tale of Two Churches” where pastors in different parts of the country tend to be worried about different things (keeping the lights on vs. finding space for more pews and parking spaces). Parish closures are most heavily concentrated in two states. Pennsylvania has reduced its number of parishes by 532 since 1971 and New York by 500. Other states have experienced increases in parishes, offsetting some of these losses including Texas, Florida, Arizona, and New Mexico. Analysis:

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:

This report presents findings from a national survey of women and men religious who professed perpetual vows in 2018 in a religious congregation, province, or monastery based in the United States. The average age of responding religious of the Profession Class of 2018 is 38. Half of the responding religious are age 35 or younger. The youngest is 22 and the oldest is 75. The full report is available now.

Results of a survey of Catholic bishops and diocesan deacon directors in the United States regarding the sacramental ordination of women as deacons are now available (news release). The survey sought to understand the bishops’ and deacon directors’ awareness of and attitudes about The Study Commission on the Women’s Diaconate initiated by Pope Francis. Read the working paper:

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.