The number of U.S. Catholic sister (nuns) has decreased from 180,000 in 1965 to 68,600 in 2005.
The worse is yet to come – the majority is older than 70 and the younger generation shows little interest.
The priest population is in trouble too. It is almost unchanged from what it was in 1950 – roughly 44,000. But the Catholic population has climbed from 28.6 million to 66.4 million over the same period.
( Source: Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, Georgetown University)
