Thursday, May 12, 2011

Jesuit Numbers Decline 70%

Fr. Howard Gray, S.J.
The New York Times reported that the number of Jesuits has fallen by 70 percent since 1954 and that several Jesuit colleges have been forced to confront the real possibility that the order might soon disappear from their campuses. The Jesuits, formally known as The Society of Jesus in the United States, have been an integral part of the Georgetown community since the school's founding by Archbishop John Carroll, S.J. Dedicated to learning, service and faith, they play active roles in the educational, religious and social facets of the university. But even Georgetown's highly visible and involved Jesuit community has been impacted by the recent downward trend in the number of new priests joining religious orders. Georgetown's Jesuit community has seen an almost 50 percent decline in members in the past 36 years, dropping from 122 in 1975 to 64 today, according to The Washington Post. 
Fr. Howard Gray, S.J., special assistant to President John J. DeGioia, entered the Society of Jesus in 1948 following his high school graduation. For him, the decline in the number of new members is very visible in the community. "There were about 10 to 12 of us that entered the Jesuits out of high school," he said. "Times have changed now."  
He added that this dip in numbers poses several challenges for the future of the order. "When you have a decreased population you count on and that population is aging, that affects your mobility and flexibility," he said.
Link (here) to read the full article in The Hoya.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The primary problem is in Jesuit formation, the destruction of the Jesuit seminaries and the take over of the training of young Jesuits by those who do not have a faithful grounding of the Spiritual Exercises.

Maria said...

I kept getting glocked out every day at America Magazine and could not figure out why. Well, it seems I have been "banned". Here is the E-mail I received from Tim Reidy:


Maria,

I’m for for the tardy reply. We tried to contact you at your Comcast account some weeks ago but we were unsuccessful. In short, we ask that you take a break from posting to the blog. Your consistent posting of quotes from outside sources has become repetitive, and the tone you strike with some of the Jesuits borders on the disrespectful. We do not have the staff to vet every comment, so I’m afraid we are asking a few correspondents to take a break.

Regards,
Tim Reidy

And people wonder why they have so few vocations?

Maria said...

Maybe Tim Reidy would like to publish the names of those he has banned?

Maria said...

31. Maria Byrd,
My objection was not to your vocabulary. My objection was to your lie.
Jim Keane, S.J.

Report comment
Posted By Jim Keane, S.J. | Tuesday, May 10, 2011 01:32:04 AM

This was a comment posted by Father Keane at In All Things. I guess this is a new pastoral approach--calling people one disagrees w/ liars. Who is disrespectful?

Andrew said...

Maria,
I gave up on the America blog long ago precisely for this reason. God bless

Maria said...

Andrew, thank you for your response. They think that they can shape the church by selectively posting propoganda. They edit out the Truth. They don't want anytone getting any ideas. I thought the job of a priest was to lead your sould to Christ, not try to make you hate the church. Seems you are only welcome if you hate the church...

Stewart said...

How does the saying go? A man is defined by his enemies.

Maria said...

Stewart: ROFLM arse off! Thanks.