However the transfer towards lay management has gained steam since 2001, when Georgetown College in Washington, D.C., grew to become the primary Jesuit school or college to call a president who was not a member of the order.
That development displays a grim actuality dealing with the Catholic Church in the USA: There will not be sufficient younger males coming into the priesthood to interchange older clergymen who retire or die, leaving an ever smaller pool of clergy members who’re certified to run a big nonprofit entity like a contemporary college.
The variety of Catholic clergymen in the USA has dropped precipitously in current a long time. In 1970, there have been 59,192 clergymen within the nation, however that quantity dropped to 35,513 in 2020, in accordance with the Heart for Utilized Analysis within the Apostolate, a Georgetown College initiative that conducts social science analysis on issues associated to the Catholic Church.
That decline has been even sharper amongst spiritual orders, a class that features the Jesuits and teams just like the Franciscans and Dominicans. In 1970, there have been 21,920 clergymen in spiritual orders in the USA, however by 2020 that quantity had fallen to 10,308.
Father McShane addressed that decline when introducing Ms. Tetlow on Thursday.
“The demographic realities which might be ours are harsh,” he mentioned. “They demand we rise to the problem and embrace a brand new method of doing issues.”
When Father McShane entered the Jesuit order in 1967, there have been 1,460 Jesuits in New York, he mentioned, including that immediately there are 2,086 Jesuits left nationwide, and the typical age is over 70.
Solely 34 males entered Jesuit coaching within the nation final 12 months, Father McShane mentioned. And at Fordham, solely 14 Jesuits nonetheless educate college students, out of 747 full-time instructors, in accordance with a college spokesman.