There is actually a theological reasoning behind religious Orders going ‘extinct’. It has long been recognized that the expansion and reduction of a religious Order is the working of the Holy Spirit, whether the Order likes it or not. Orders serve their members in a communal living out of their Charism, but also provide a font of Grace through that Charism to the greater Church. Both of these aspects must be preserved for the Holy Spirit to sustain a Religious Order. There have been relatively large religous Orders (150+ members) which have been absorbed into other Orders because they no longer provide a unique avenue of grace through their Charism and have simply become one of a number of cookie cutter Orders with the same Charism, while other Orders with very few members are kept alive through what can only be considered the hand of the Holy Spirit. An example can be taken from my own Order’s history. At the turn of the 20th century, the Clerics Regular Minor only had two priests, one solemn professed brother and five simple professed brothers. Despite many Orders being absorbed into others, there was never any talk by the Church to have our Order absorbed because of our unique Charism and action in the Church. Then, by the hand of the Holy Spirit and Our Lady (she had spoken to one of our Founders and said that our Charism was dear to her and it would forever be under her protection), the Order swelled to thrity four priests and nearly fifty religious within a decade and is now one of the fastest growing religious Orders (by percentage) in the world. This is compared to an order we were close with at the time, the Friars Minor (Franciscans) of Penance, who had over 150 members but had simply become one of many generic Franciscan conventual Orders with no distinct charism, were absorbed into the general body of the Conventual Franciscans (O.F.M. Conv.).
