Francis’ Jesuits Lead Dramatic Downfall Since Second Vatican Council

The Jesuits were the first of the Church’s top twelve religious orders to lose more than half of their members from their historic high point, according to Catholic-Hierarchy.org.

From 36,038 in 1966 they went down to 17,908 in 2011. Currently they are down 57% from their all time high. Francis, the Jesuit, did nothing to invert that trend.

The Franciscans and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate reached that negative milestone in 2016. Now, they are both down 52%.

Redemptorists (down 47%) and Vincentians/Lazarists (down 43%) are close to reaching that point.

In the top dozen, only one order, the Divine Word Missionaries, has hit its high mark in terms of members in recent years (6,131 in 2009).

In terms of only priests, two orders hit their highest mark in 2016: Divine Word Missionaries with 4,231 and Discalced Carmelites with 2,937 priests.

The Benedictines had the best year of the top twelve, in 2019 increasing their number of priests by 6 and members by 184.

Adding all of the top twelve together, the all time high was in 1966 with 160,926 total members. Then, the Second Vatican Council downhill drive started.

If current trends continue, the Jesuits will be replaced by the Salesians as the largest religious order.

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Gesù è con noi

May 29, 2020

In 2008, a group of Jesuit dissidents elected a progressive "Black Pope" -Adolfo Nicolás, all of them committed schism including Bergoglio; rebelling against the doctrinal teachings of the Church and refusing to obey the Magisterium

In 2008 the Vatican correspondent, Julio Algañaraz, reported in the Argentine newspaper
Clarín : The Jesuits have a special vow of obedience, wanted by Saint Ignatius, to "obey like corpses" to the will of the Pope. But Benedict XVI mistrusts them and sent them a letter ten days ago saying that the order must confirm his own obedience to the Church
The aspects in which Pope Benedict XVI shows his greatest misgivings and calls for rigid obedience refer to “the relationship between Christ and the religions, some aspects of liberation theology and various points of sexual morality, especially in what it refers to the indissolubility of marriage and the pastoral care of homosexual people ”.

giveusthisday

May 29, 2020

When the Jesuit confessor to Louis XiV didn't persuade the king to consecrate France to the Sacred Heart, within 100 years of more and more difficulties, the Jesuit order was finally abolished. "They did not want to heed My request. (The BVM to Sister Lucy about Her Ministers who did not heed Her request to consecrate Russia to Her Immaculate Heart.) Like the King of France, they will repent and do so, but it will be late. Russia will already have spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The Holy Father will have much to suffer!" As quoted in _The Whole Truth About Fatima_, Frere Michel de la Trinite. P. 544

DrMaria

May 29, 2020

These so-called "Jesuits" have betrayed not only Our Lord, whose Holy Name they bear in the very name of their institute, but also their founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola, who remains a great Saint - and whose true legacy and contributions to the Catholic Faith need to be recovered!

johnmoore444

May 29, 2020

I entered a Jesuit high school in 1971 and my young mind was startled by what I saw. A priest who used profanities to include F bombs, feminine lay religious men prancing around the halls, a secular faculty member who told dirty jokes to the class, rampant religious indifferentism, etc. All this time, as was discovered a few years ago, the Athletic Director was molesting boys at his home. The rot …More

Tesa

May 29, 2020

An order calling itself “The Society of Jesus” is a lil’ bit pretentious. Worse is only "Opus Dei"

Ultraviolet

May 29, 2020

The more interesting question is how much of a percentage drop happened under each pope.

Dr Bobus

May 30, 2020

The big exodus happened under Paul VI--50,000 men left the priesthood. The Archdiocese of Paris in 1950 had 1503 priests, by 1970 there were 867.
The Jesuits were perhaps the hardest hit of all the orders. Some years ago in a bit of research using Catholic Directories, I found that in 1964 in the US there were c. 500 SJ novice and c. 4000 SJ scholastics (students). In 1989 the numbers were about …More

The big exodus happened under Paul VI--50,000 men left the priesthood. The Archdiocese of Paris in 1950 had 1503 priests, by 1970 there were 867.

The Jesuits were perhaps the hardest hit of all the orders. Some years ago in a bit of research using Catholic Directories, I found that in 1964 in the US there were c. 500 SJ novice and c. 4000 SJ scholastics (students). In 1989 the numbers were about 10% of those in 1964

Ultraviolet

May 30, 2020

Much obliged, Dr Bobus That's some first-rate scholarship!

Dr Bobus

May 30, 2020

It's hardly scholarship, just a reflection of 30 minutes in a library with Catholic Directories on a nearby shelf, little different from looking up Ted Williams' stats when he hit .406 or the three times Sandy Koufax won the Pitchers Triple Crown. And the numbers are preceded by c. simply because the Jesuits are very secretive about such matters.

A few years ago The Center of Applied Research at Georgetown published professionally gathered stats of such matters.

nineteensixty-four.blogspot.com/…/changing-jesuit…

Anyone familiar with the Hudson River Valley, esp. Hyde Park, knows of the Culinary Institute of America. Its location was the Novitiate and Juniorate of the New York Jesuits. It once held about 120 Jesuits in formation or working in formation. It was sold in 1970.

Ultraviolet

May 30, 2020

Hey, don't sell yourself short Dr B. The world is only too happy to do that for you.
"A few years ago The Center of Applied Research at Georgetown published professionally gathered stats of such matters."
About Ted Williams and Sandy Koufax or the Jesuits? :D
Still... it was nice research and I was curious. :) You saved me half an hour (minimum) of digging.More

Hey, don't sell yourself short Dr B. The world is only too happy to do that for you.

"A few years ago The Center of Applied Research at Georgetown published professionally gathered stats of such matters."

About Ted Williams and Sandy Koufax or the Jesuits? :D

Still... it was nice research and I was curious. :) You saved me half an hour (minimum) of digging.

Dr Bobus

May 31, 2020

The stats of Williams an Koufax are already available on baseball-reference.com.
Did you notice the link I inserted later on the world wide stats of the SJs? Jesuits readily acknowledge their numbers are withering in the West, but some have told me that they are booming in the 3rd world. T.he stats show otherwise. Then again maybe they're using the vocational analog of mark-to-market accounting (…More

The stats of Williams an Koufax are already available on baseball-reference.com.

Did you notice the link I inserted later on the world wide stats of the SJs? Jesuits readily acknowledge their numbers are withering in the West, but some have told me that they are booming in the 3rd world. T.he stats show otherwise. Then again maybe they're using the vocational analog of mark-to-market accounting (cf ENRON).