Me too. I spent all afternoon trying to come up with a nice response.
One interesting point, or a silver lining, though, is that they said the average age is 70. With more traditional orders (like the Nashville Dominicans - they were at our parish today talking to the grade school students - I think the confirmation class at the 9am Mass had something to do with it) getting new postulants, it’s almost like it’s time for the forest to be cleared to allow for new growth.
It’s kind of sad, though, when looking at all of the non-cloistered orders and seeing that, not only do they not wear habits (which I think is the main reason they’re not attracting new postulants - no one knows they’re a sister!), over 90% of the sisters in any given order look like they’re over 60. In some orders, 1/3 look like they don’t have long for the world.
There’s a local Benedictine order that does parish work at our parish and other parishes (1 sister to parish, I think), and their convent has 13 sisters who have to be over 65, if not 70. They recently had a “Come and See” Monastic Weekend, but didn’t get enough interest. Only 1 is maybe in her 30s or 40s. In 20 years, will it even still be around? Even in 10 years, they might not be able to drive to even get to parishes.