Study: More Diverse Recruits Joining Catholic Orders

"The newest and next generation of priests, brothers, sisters and nuns who belong to Roman Catholic religious orders in the U.S. are more ethnically diverse and tradition-bound than their predecessors, according to a new portrait of Catholic religious life released Tuesday. The underlying numbers remain dire. Most religious orders in the U.S. suffer from aging membership, diminishing numbers and few if any new candidates, according to the study conducted by Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate for the National Religious Vocation Conference."