It seems more and more young women are finding joy in dedicating their lives to God. A new survey has revealed that the U.S. Roman Catholic Church is attracting more young sisters, novices and postulants.
The survey was conducted by the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious on all of its 120 member communities in 137 U.S. dioceses. The results were released in May, according to the Catholic News Agency.
There are around 6,000 women religious among the council's member communities. The council noted that this is only a section of the 48,546 religious sisters in the U.S. in 2015.
The average age of the sisters is 57 years old, which is "well below" lower than the average age of women religious in the U.S. As for the postulants' average age, it is around 27 years old. The age of novices range around 29 years old, while temporary professed sisters have an average age of 32.
The survey revealed that 16 percent of women religious are in the age range of 30 to 39 years old, which is the largest group. However, this group is only slightly larger than the group comprising of women religious aged 60 to 69 and 70 to 79 years old.
There are currently 1,000 sisters in initial formation, making up 15 percent of the membership of the council's member communities. As for the others, over 80 percent of professed religious are engaged in active ministry, 19 percent are engaged in education, 17 percent in health care, and 11 percent belong to evangelisation, catechesis and religious education.
For Mother Mary Agnes Donovan, S.V., council chairperson and superior general of the Sisters of Life, it does not matter what age the women religious belong to, because they are "blessed" to have them all.
"The presence of the well-established communities lends a wisdom and guiding presence to the newer communities," she said. "I am sure that without the mentoring support and generosity of these superiors, communities such as ours would never have come to fruition."
