Death of the men's orders in Germany
Report from 2017. The decline will have relentlessly continued since.
Since 1990, 110 branches of men's orders in Germany have been closed, and membership has declined from 6,916 to 4,029. The number of novices, which was 163 in 1990, fell to 55 in 2016, and the number of priestly ordinations from 71 to 16. This trend is also evident worldwide.
Parallel to the general trends in the statistics of the Catholic Church – including declining participation in the sacraments of church life, the decline in regular church attendance following the liturgical reform of 1965, and the 'all-time low' in the number of ordinations of secular priests – the number of branches and members of men's orders in Germany has also been declining since 1990.
The increase in branches and members since 2012 is only due to a greater inclusion of the fraternal orders, although the downward trend continues.
All orders are affected. In Germany…
Even if the decline in men's orders is not quite as severe as the decline in women's orders in Germany, all traditional men's orders are affected; overall, the five largest men's orders have lost around 13 percent of their members in the past five years – albeit at different rates.
… and worldwide
Based on the data in the Pontifical Yearbook, this trend can also be observed worldwide. Between 1959 and 2012, i.e., within approximately 50 years, the number of members in the six largest men's orders has steadily declined. The traditionally largest religious orders, the Jesuits (down 50 percent) and the Franciscans (down 46 percent), are particularly affected.
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