Going Gentle into the Good Night

The excellent Irish Blogger Infelix Ego has posted some distressing statistics concerning the Jesuits and their declining numbers.

World-wide: Before Vatican II, 36,200. Today 18,711.

Brothers: Before Vatican II, 5,204. Today 1,306.

Seminarians (USA only): Before Vatican II, 5,500. Today 140.

USA Jesuit priests: Before Vatican II, 8,000. Today 2,640.

Jesuits (Italy): Before Vatican II, 4,000+. Today 640.

Jesuits (France): Before Vatican II, 3,500+. Today less than 500.

Jesuits (Canada): Before Vatican II, 1,500+. Today less than 250.

Jesuits (Ireland and the United Kingdom): Before Vatican II, 1,740+. Today less than 300.

The Jesuits seem to be racing the Episcopalians to oblivion. While the Pope recently read them the riot act, with little reaction on their part, I wonder, assuming the numbers above are anywhere near accurate, if the Jesuits (like the Episcopalians) are stuck in an irreversible downward spiral. Having devolved over the years into into a hard-left organization (a search on their website for the term "social justice" yields 44 hits), it isn't surprising their numbers are falling precipitously. Today's leftists have little need of Holy Mother Church and her notions of salvation and eternal life, enamored as they are of creating heaven on earth--even if it kills us. Vocations among the left are increasingly rare (how many left-wing priests do you know who are under fifty?) and more and more of the laity who identify with the left stay home on Sunday mornings, reading their New York Times instead. As a movement within the Church the left is becoming increasingly marginalized and so, too, are the Jesuits.

With the Pope's acceptance of the resignation, i.e. his firing, of the Jesuits' Superior General, the Rev'd Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, and a search on for his replacement, you have to wonder if the Church would be better off if his Holiness simply left that office vacant and appointed an administrator to shut the order down in an orderly fashion. Many of the useful functions of the Jesuits seem to be better handled by Opus Dei, a conservative lay organization of men and women that has no trouble attracting members and, wonder of wonders, young ones to boot (they are also feared and loathed by the left which, of course, is their Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval). Despite their mounting woes the Jesuits are showing little concern for the future. Maybe it is better for the Church to share their lack of concern and allow that once grand and powerful order to slowly vanish into peaceful senectitude.