Georgetown’s Center for Applied Research has released a study showing that men and women entering the priesthood and joining an order of nuns are more likely to be non-white and conservative than their predecessors. Asians, Pacific Islanders, Latinos and Africans make up an increasing share of the new recruits. Also, young women joining an order of religious are twice as likely to join an order where wearing a habit is expected than not.
Those who have been screaming for diversity should be happy. But they won’t be. That’s because ancestry was never the real issue—being a traditionalist or a progressive is what matters most to the diversity dons.
Sister Mary Bendyna, who authored the study, explained why women wanting to become a nun don’t choose to join those orders which are dying out: “Volunteering, social work, working for the poor—they can do that elsewhere.” Precisely.
