from CARA, the Center of Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University:

between 2005 and 2007:

Number of sisters dropped over 7%.

Number of priests dropped 3%.

Number of brothers dropped 8%.

Number of parishes dropped by 357.

Priest-less parishes stayed about the same, probably due to mergers.

Total Catholic population dropped by 400,000(listed as .4 million).



Statistics for the OSB Cassianese congregation which includes most of the largest Benedictine orders of men in the US:

http://www.osb.org/amcass/statistics.html, which also includes many declines. These stats are compiled every year.

At the risk of sounding silly, where precisely is Cara located?

Georgetown University is in Washington DC.

There is a Benedictine foundation in Saskatchewan of the American Cassinese, namely St. Peter's. I don't know if it is growing or not. I suspect not, from what I've been able to gather. Sad, really.

Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate- It's a pretty helpful website, IMHO.

Random aside.... do you know the ASCJ sisters in your picture? They're a great bunch.

Nevermind about this second comment... I think my computer did something funky.