Is it as bad as some claim? Or is it being exargarated?

Its REAL bad. I wish I had statistics to back my fact up, but its real bad, however some communities like the DSMME, Nashville Dominicans, and Summit as well as a couple others are finally/or growing immensely, the DSMME have a 1526 or whatever growth %age

The vocations aren't what's lacking; there are millions. It's the response that is lacking.

It really is bad. There are many orders that are just dying off. Yes, some are booming, that is just a few. I know of several contemplative monasteries that are down to just 5-6 nuns who are in their 70's. It s hard to attract young vocations when there are only much older sisters present.
I am hoping that some of these smaller groups will get some of the overflow of vocations. It is wonderful to see a resurgence of interest in religioius life, am sure that is due to the influence of JP11.

On the cloister outreach website, there's information on one that's down to just one sister, too! It really must be hard attracting younger vocations to communities with no other sisters in the same age group. Prayers.

Not only does it vary by community it also varies by continent. While I was at Christ in the Desert, the Abbot related to us about how the european branch and the Asian branch of the Subiaco Congregation of benedictines compared. There were some communities he mentioned in spain and portugal that were planning to merge or hadn't had vocations in 20+ years. Subiaco itself is down to about 15 monks. But in Vietnam, the monasteries are growing very rapidly and have no shortage of vocations.

First of all, since nuns stopped looking like nuns, some people don't even realize religious still exist. Some groups have reformed themselves out of existance. Those orders that are radical to still wear habits seem to be doing better. Some even overflowing.

The lack in of those entering the priesthood or consecrated life, certainly in most of the Western World, has been really significant.
For the numbers, you can take a look at the USCCB site, http://www.usccb.org/vocations/statistics.shtml
There are already a number of religious congregations who have died out or had to merge with other orders. But, just so you know, things like this have happened in the past. The Crosiers, I think were down to only a handful of members in the sixteen hundreds before they rebounded. And they aren't the only ones.
I am very hopeful that there will be many more orders, and dioceses that will will be on the rebound in the next few years.

The situation in England is dire. The religious we do have are mostly ancient and no attention whatsoever is paid to vocation in the Catholic schools.

However, we are experiencing a resurgence. According to the Community of Our Lady of Walsingham, whose mission is encouraging people to find and follow their vocations in life, more and more interested young Catholics are attending their discussion groups and retreats. As if to confirm this, in the past six months alone I met three girls under the age of twenty-five who are entering the religious life. One is already with the Poor Clares in Galway, one is going to St Cecelia's Abbey on the Isle of Wight, and one is entering Quidenham Carmel in January.

At the recent Youth 2000 retreat there were sisters, brothers, and priests all over the place. There were Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Renewal, members of the Community of St John, Missionaries of Charity, Lymington Dominicans, Little Sisters of Jesus, Daughters of Divine Charity, the Community of Our Lady of Walsingham, plenty of diocesan priests, and sisters from one other order that I could not place. It seemed as if the only people missing were the Swiss Guard. And the retreatants were talking to them, asking questions, thinking. It was wonderful to see.

Thanks for referencing our site. http://cloisters.tripod.com/

The situation was extremely bad when I first got into promoting the cloisters. One Carmel wrote back to me and said, "We want to remain unknown and hidden," despite 20 years of "many come and gone."

Since this went against the grain of what the Holy Ghost was inspiring me to do, I asked Jesus to move the pope on the subject. Next thing I know, His Holiness is saying to the cloisters, "Make yourselves known as a way of attracting vocations!" The cloisters were baffled as to how to do this, until I came "knocking on their door," or, more accurately, sent them a letter.

Now cloisters who have no internet access are rushing to establish a web presence so they can be on our site.

The community referenced in the quoted post is that of the Handmaids of the Most Holy Trinity in South Bend, Indiana. If anyone is discerning with the South Bend, IN, Franciscans, I would highly recommend that they stop by the Handmaids' hermitage. The address is on the "Communities in Serious Condition" page on our website, or the OSFs can tell you how to get there.

Blessings,
Gemma

I am always glad to hear some good news on the vocations front, especially from Europe

But actually I know many young women that are more attracted to cloistered communities that desire to remain more hidden, and do not have the internet. It's nice if there is a listing like on the IRL site and your site, which is great, but it's not always necessary.

The Monastic Family of Bethlehem intentionally does not have a site, but they've grown very much since their foundation. God has many ways of leading people to what He desires. And hiddenness is especially important to the cloistered life.

Some kind of a listing with a picture, as the profiles are on the IRL site, is helpful of course. The new St. Joseph's Association site with the addresses of all the Carmels in it is really nice. :j also the IRL's new Cloistered Life site http://www.cloisteredlife.com/

I don't think it's even the lack of response. It's a lack of faith. Among the faithful at events like Youth 2000 and similar conferences, you see 20-30% of those present standing up to say they are interested in or discerning religious life. However, those of us who attend those events are a fraction of the body of Catholic laypeople. Most Catholics simply aren't very concerned about their spiritual life or their vocation. I don't know how much fruit the New Evangelization is bearing, but reaching out to nominal Catholics in love would bring a wave of responses to religious vocations.