Please God in the future these unnecessary rules from Cor Orans will be rethought. We need incentives for religious vocations, not the opposite.
I hve my doubts that there are “unnecessary rules”. I also doubt that the rules would stop anyone from pursuing the possibility of a vocation to such orders; it is highly likely the rules specific to the issue at hand are going to be even brought up for a period of time, or focused on.
The reality is that there has been a gradual decrease in vocations across the board in both Europe and North America as a total (some orders seem to be growing, but overall apper to be an anomaly). Vocations elsewhere appear to be stronger.
And that is due to a multiplicity of issues; trying to isolate one or a few is to ignore that society in general has changed and not for the better.
My contacts for people who have vocations to the religious life include two communities of sisters (not nuns) and two communities of monks - Benedictines and Trappists.
When I first came in contact with the Trappists they had something like 50 members; they are now down to about 14 "standing, and a few more how are in infirmary. And the Trappist monastery in Utah shut down a few years ago; I only visited it once and at the time they were trying to figure out where they would go, as other monasteries did not have to automatically take them.
And consistently it appears that many orders are not taking in young (as in, 18 year olds) people who feel they have a vocation; part of that may be the results of experience, and part of that appears to be that those who have a vocation appear to discern it at an older age.
And before too many bemoan that fact, consider this: How is someone at the age of 18, or even 22 going to fit in, let alone relate to a group whos average age may be 70 years old?
