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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAmerica's nun population in steep decline, 1% are under age 40, avg age is 80
https://abcnews.go.com/US/americas-nun-population-steep-decline/story?id=87426990According to a recent study, less than 1% of nuns in America are under 40 and the average sister is 80 years old.
In 2022, there were reportedly fewer than 42,000 nuns in America, which is a 76% decline over 50 years. At the rate sisters are disappearing, one estimate said that there will be fewer than 1,000 nuns left in the United States by 2042, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.
Throck
(2,520 posts)The Catholic church and associated ideology have been outdated for years. Bad leadership has pointed the church to extinction.
Skittles
(152,964 posts)they can never make up for the damage they have caused
Sanity Claws
(21,822 posts)I have worked with nuns who were social workers, teachers, immigration counselors, and charity workers. I was always impressed with them and their work.
One of our board members is a nun. She told us that the Second Vatican Council determined that the nuns were laity, not clergy. (News to me.)
While I won't miss the Catholic Church and its demise, I will miss the nuns -- a bunch of women who are motivated to do good.
Shermann
(7,355 posts)All the good work, none of the hocus pocus and unusual dress codes.
Heck, they may even be able to work from home sometimes.
That's what I was going to post. Nothing is stopping them from continuing the good work without the church affiliation.
This is such an outdated "occupation" that I'm glad it's disappearing. It was just another way for men to control women.
Demovictory9
(32,320 posts)Without that low-cost female workforce Catholic church will be 🤕
Sneederbunk
(14,207 posts)Tetrachloride
(7,721 posts)Nuns know Noh.
Nuns know no noon Noh a no-no
No No a No
No no a Noh
Nouns now None Nuns nowt
my nun in grade school was very pretty. i was 7
If she is alive , then about 80 years old.
i missed noon lunch on 2nd day.
DFW
(54,050 posts)Start at about 5:27
Emile
(21,887 posts)not allowed to vote
malaise
(267,797 posts)Why do nuns always walk together - so none can get none.😀😀
hunter
(38,264 posts)In the bad old days if you didn't want to be married, if you didn't want to get pregnant, if you didn't want to have sex with men, etc., there weren't a lot of socially acceptable options.
maxsolomon
(32,975 posts)remodeling their main campus building. new finishes, new lighting, new commercial kitchen.
they're all in their late 70s to 90s, social-justice catholics to the core - my favorite kind. they have younger sisters come from vietnam to do residencies, but they're all very aware that their lifestyle is fading away, and are planning for their legacy.
we'd done a senior-care building on the campus 10 years ago - the sisters pass away there, often in their late 90s or over 100.
what happens to their gorgeous mid-century modern campus filled with massive conifers, i don't know. it's beautiful enough to be a state park.
niyad
(112,426 posts)Demovictory9
(32,320 posts)Handler
(335 posts)mathematic
(1,429 posts)And to get 1000 nuns in 20 years you're looking at less than 1000 nuns under 60? With maybe another 1000 in their 60s?
These numbers just seem incomprehensibly low for a country with so many Catholics. With 70 million Catholics and 1000 nuns, I think a random Catholic would be more likely to be a current or former major league baseball player than a nun.
Though I can't say I blame anybody for not wanting to be a nun.