Consecrated Religious Life: The Changing Paradigms

In the 1970's Diarmuid O'Murchu predicted that the numbers of men and women in consecrated religious life would decline sharply-and many dismissed him as a prophet of doom. But history has born him out: in 1960 there were 1.3 million serving the Catholic Church in this capacity; in 1990 there were 900,000. While debate continues on why this has come to be, O'Murchu now prepares us to move forward, evaluating afresh the time-honored traditions of the vowed life and offering insights to make sense of the challenging new times in which we live.