A recent US study of those who took their perpetual vows in 2011 shows that new religious are younger and more educated than in the past.
“We are encouraged by the report’s findings that men and women are considering a vocation at a younger age,” said Mercy Sister Mary Joanna Ruhland, associate director of the U.S. bishops’ secretariat of vocations and consecrated life.
“As the Catholics recognize their responsibility to build a vocation culture in its parishes, schools and families, children and youth are being introduced to the various vocations in the Church,” she said in an April 5 statement.
“This helps them respond to God’s love and will generously and willingly.”
A recently-released study, conducted by Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, surveyed men and women religious who were incorporated into religious communities in 2011.
Most respondents reported that they first thought about a religious vocation when they were 19 years old, although half did so at age 17 or younger.
Those entering religious orders in 2011 were also highly educated. Almost 60 percent had earned at least a bachelor’s degree, and 16 percent had earned a graduate degree as well.
The survey, commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, found that the average age of women professing perpetual vows in 2011 was 39. This is four years younger than those from the previous year.
Ninety-four percent of respondents said that they have been Catholic since birth, and almost 80 percent come from families in which both parents are Catholic. Almost half of those surveyed attended a Catholic elementary school, and nearly all said that they regularly participated in some kind of private prayer activity before entering their religious institute.
The average age of women taking perpetual vows was 39, whereas the average age for men was 42.
Source
- CNA
- Image: Only Tradition
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