The number of sisters in the majority of religious communities of women in the United States has declined fairly rapidly over the past five years, said the National Catholic Reporter.
The loss, from 60,642 in 2007 to 46,451 today, was reported by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious during its annual assembly in Garden Grove, California, last month.
The conference, whose members lead 95 percent of the sisters in communities in the US, projects the loss of another 2,787 sisters in 2012.
This dramatic drop is the result of the death of women who joined the communities during the heyday of vocations in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, as well as fewer new members over the past 30 years.
The Centre for Applied Research in the Apostolate reported in 2009 that 91 percent of women religious with final vows were at least 60 years old and that a majority of those under the age of 60 were in their 50s.
Additionally, CARA reported that more than half of the women in initial formation in LCWR institutes are 40 or older.
During a three-day process of contemplation at the Leadership Conference of Women Religious assembly, participants articulated a conviction that they are partners with the Spirit in the emergence of new forms of religious life.
"We're willing to put everything on the table for the sake of realignment in service to God's mission in the world," Providence Sr. Marie McCarthy, one of the facilitators of the contemplative process, said in her report at the assembly's conclusion.
"The work is God's and we are available for it."
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