Seminary enrollment stats

[anode]

Well, there are statistics and there are d**ned statistics.

Someone should find out who makes up the seminaries! I would think that this would be important. CARA is the best choice, but they have a lot of work to do.

The NRVC-CARA extensive review of religious life in the US, grouped into *one category * institutes with 10 or more in their novitiates, including postulants, candidates, novices, temp professions, final professed. They didn’t single out anyone in the pile. but a review of these groups shows that there is great variability in the number who make final profession–the only thing that counts. I consider this to be a great weakness in the research.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Well, there are statistics and there are d**ned statistics.

Someone should find out who makes up the seminaries! I would think that this would be important. CARA is the best choice, but they have a lot of work to do.

The NRVC-CARA extensive review of religious life in the US, grouped into *one category *institutes with 10 or more in their novitiates, including postulants, candidates, novices, temp professions, final professed. They didn’t single out anyone in the pile. but a review of these groups shows that there is great variability in the number who make final profession–the only thing that counts. I consider this to be a great weakness in the research.

Postulants would not be counted in the number of those in the order as one does not become a member of the order until they enter the novitiate.

 

[anode]

Postulants would not be counted in the number of those in the order as one does not become a member of the order until they enter the novitiate.

I think that they were counted, as being “in formation” (I spoke to someone at CARA) --I know that “inquirers” or “pre-postulants” weren’t. I’d have to go back to the original long and detailed report to be sure about this. My point is the same. I came to the importance of this when I began looking at the number of final professions in the societies with ‘large’ formation programs, usually habited sisters. A number of these were turning out 1-2 final professions a year, not bad, but far lower than the public perception.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

I think that they were counted, as being “in formation” (I spoke to someone at CARA) --I know that “inquirers” or “pre-postulants” weren’t. I’d have to go back to the original long and detailed report to be sure about this. My point is the same. I came to the importance of this when I began looking at the number of final professions in the societies with ‘large’ formation programs, usually habited sisters. A number of these were turning out 1-2 final professions a year, not bad, but far lower than the public perception.

Then CARA is making a mistake as canonically postulants are not members of the religious order/community.