Year of the Consecrated Life - I: Some Statistics and Observations.The Accelerated Decline of Women Religious

Reunion of Catalan Abbesses and Religious Superiors, Feb. 9, 2015. Source. 

H/t La Cigüeña de la Torre.

February 2 was instituted in 1997 by Pope John Paul II as the world day of prayer for women and men in consecrated life, and it was on this day, just three weeks ago, that Pope Francis opened the "Year of Consecrated Life" (although it already started on November 30 last year). It is the latest in a long string of "special years" proclaimed by the Popes - the Year of the Rosary (2002-2003), the Year of the Eucharist (2004-2005), the Year of St. Paul (2008-2009), the Year for Priests (2009-2010), and finally, the Year of Faith (2012-2013), itself the second such year to be declared after Vatican II (the first was in 1967-1968). 

Surely we are not alone in observing that the current "Year of Consecrated Life" is low-key compared to its predecessors? There is, apparently, very little talk about it, very little excitement. Perhaps it is weariness over "special years"? Perhaps it is because of the very real barrenness and exhaustion in much of Catholic religious life, despite the propaganda in official statements and in much of the "establishment" Catholic media and blogosphere? There are many signs of hope when it comes to religious life (we hope to write more about these soon) but in the immediate term the main trend in Catholic consecrated life will continue to be that of decline. 

According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (source - see "World Data over Time"), in 2012 the total number of female consecrated religious in the Catholic world was 705,529 for a reported (nominal) Catholic population of 1.229 billion. Only two years before, in 2010 there were 721,935. In 2000 there were 801,185. In 1970 there were 1,004,304 female religious for a reported Catholic population of 653.6 million. Overall, there has been a reduction by nearly a hundred thousand since the "Great Jubilee" that was meant to be the celebration of the "New Springtime" / "New Pentecost" in the Church.

Liberal liturgical tours: a strange Sunday Novus Ordo in the Netherlands

After some comforting but unsure self-denial about how the Council and post-Council led to the collapse of the proud, strong, and missionary Catholicism of the Netherlands in the past 50 years, ultra-progressive Liturgist Anthony Ruff, OSB, of Collegeville, describes this Sunday's Novus Ordo Mass (um... "service") in a major Amsterdam Church today:

I set out this morning for Dominicuskerk, Give Us This Day in hand since I don’t quite always catch everything in Dutch.

Dominicuskerk is a big neo-Gothic building. Now, there is a platform against the left wall in the middle of a long narrow nave, congregation gathered around all sides, piano and choir opposite platform. Pretty full church, virtually all over 60 or 70. Only a few who looked to be in their 30s or 40s, all female. About three children.

Large pipe organ (rather Romantic sounding) was used for about 1/3 of the music, piano for the rest. Choir sang in harmony, sometimes with people and sometimes alternating with them. Quite advanced and interesting piano parts, at times a sort of Dutch version of Calvin Hampton. Music of Oosterhuis and Löwenthal and Oomen and others. Quite nice music, really.

My first indication that Give Us This Day wouldn’t be of much use was when I looked at the Order of Worship handout. No Penitential Act, Gloria, or Collect. No first reading, responsorial psalm, second reading, Alleluia, or Gospel. Rather: song, prayer by female prayer leader, song repeated; welcome talk by another woman; song; a man read from Dorothee Sölle; homily by another woman; song; and on to the collection with piano intermezzo. Uh, no Nicene Creed. Then a table prayer with sung elements (no Sanctus) led by seven people (5 women, 2 men, none vested), and sharing of the bread and wine. Then general intercessions, blessing, and song. Coffee served at the platform.

I was flabbergasted by all this, to say the least. ... is it OK this one time for me to use the term liberal??

He was flabbergasted - we are not. Sure, the Dominicuskerk is now rented out to groups of nominal Catholics who wish to practice the faith... ecumenically and apart from the Diocese (no excommunications, though). But parts of the experience described are not that uncommon in the Low Countries. It has always startled us how many have kept the dream of the "Reform of the Reform" going based on a handful of churches in the world, particularly in the Anglosphere, in which the celebration of the Novus Ordo is filled with elements of the Traditional Mass to make it look "reverent" and pretend this is the future of the Novus Ordo. No, as the Dutch experiments of the 1960s announced the Novus Ordo, these Dutch experiments could just as well hail the future of the Novus Ordo, in particular in a Continent with fewer and fewer priests.

Sint-Agneskerk

Ruff promises he will visit the FSSP Latin Mass community of our friends at Sint-Agneskerk during the week - and we will not be surprised if, having skipped the beautiful and full Sunday Mass, he finds a nearly empty church with Low Mass in an August workday and proclaims the "failure" of the Traditional Mass in the Netherlands. 

Not at all, the Dutch Church that brought the world the glorious examples extolled by us in our series "1942 in the Netherlands" was not the church of the Council (even if many conciliar ideas were being cooked up there and then), but the Church that lived and breathed the Traditional Mass and exported scores of missionaries all over the world. Alas, that Church is gone with the conciliar wind. The true heroes are those keeping the flame of the past alive in places like Sint-Agneskerk.

Just in time for Kerstmis: The Church that led the Vatican II "Rhine reforms" was rotten

Now we know in great detail just what much of the hierarchy of the Dutch Church - one of the national Churches that led the Universal Church in the run-up to Vatican II and in the implementation of the Conciliar reforms  - was up to in the decades following World War II, before the Council, and after it: systematic abuse, cover-up in an almost unbelievable scale, spiritual death.

This was the Church of "The Dutch Catechism", the "Church of the future", the Church that introduced Communion in the hand, wild liturgies, the newly-invented "Eucharistic prayers" that were not the Canon that the Roman Rite had always known: it was the avant-garde Church that led the Council Fathers to the glorious springtime that would follow.

1. Dutch RC Church knew about abuse [Radio Netherlands] December 16:

Roman Catholic orders, congregations and dioceses knew about the abuse of minors in Catholic institutions, but failed to help the victims or take action against the abusers.

This is the conclusion of the Deetman Inquiry which on Friday published its final report on abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands.

The report points to the inadequate organisation, and the closed culture of the Dutch church province as the main reason for its inadequate response to the widespread abuse. The church also sought to avoid a scandal.

Inquiry Chair Wim Deetman, a former education minister, estimates that between 10,000 and 20,000 minors were abused in Catholic boarding schools, children’s homes and orphanages. In several thousand cases the abuse could be characterised as very serious.

Varia from the Netherlands

1). A little more than two months ago, various websites reported (and praised) the introduction of a monthly Mass according to the 1962 Missal in the St. Joseph Cathedral of the Diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden in the Netherlands. (NLM's report -- with videos -- can be found here, while Paix Liturgique mentions it here.) The first Mass was attended by around 80 people -- not an inconsiderable number, especially for the Netherlands.

After only two monthly celebrations (one each for April and May), the blog In Caelo reports that the Mass has been discontinued:

At Catholica, editor Tom Zwitser shares some discouraging news. After two Masses, the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Latin rite of the Mass at the cathedral of St. Joseph is to be discontinued immediately. Sad news, and the reasons for this decision not only highlight the lack of communication (which I, in a different context, have also experienced) within the parish and the Diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden, but also the contradictory position with the world Church taken by the diocese...

***

But what is now happening in Groningen? After two EF Masses in April and May (announced as to take place on every first Sunday of the month, celebrated out of necessity by priests from outside the diocese, initially until summer, but with the implied possibility that they may continue after that if an average of 30 faithful would be attending at that point), a decision was made to limit the number of Masses to four per year. This, as Mr. Zwitser quotes, “not to encourage a division of spirits within the parish”. It must be said, at this point, that finding qualified priests, acolytes and volunteers willing to organise and celebrate these Masses is difficult in this diocese, with such a small number of clergy and faithful to begin with. This difficulty, coupled with, in his words, the lack of cooperation he received, led Mr. Zwitser to decide not to continue as the lone mandated organiser.

Maybe the diocese will continue offering EF Masses, but this first attempt can be considered a failure. It’s quite sad that there seems to be such opposition to the older form of the Mass, especially when Rome has been quite clear in this respect...

2) In Caelo also reports that for this year, the Catholic Church in the Netherlands (six dioceses and one archdiocese) expect to have a total of 6 new priests, down from 13 in 2010. Of the six, three come from the Diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden, which has the smallest number of Catholics among the Dutch dioceses. The Archdiocese of Utrecht and the dioceses of Haarlem-Amsterdam and Roermond each have one new priest for this year. Nine transitional deacons all in all are also set to be ordained this year -- four for Roermond, three for Haarlem-Amsterdam, and two for ‘s Hertogenbosch. Hopefully all nine will be ordained priests next year.