The Life and Death of Religious Orders

How does a Religious order come back to life? That is the question being asked on the 200th anniversary of the restoration of the Society of Jesus.

The truth of the matter is that in the history of religious orders most communities have come into existence, expanded, flourished for a time,  then went into decline,  died, and were  never revived or seen again.

Has anyone every heard of the “Pontines.” I didn’t think so.

But they did exist once with the purpose of building bridges to facilitate mission work in Europe. Once they completed enough bridges their raison d’etre was fulfilled and they faded from history.

However, they do explain one reason why many groups last only for an age or a particular time: their founding purpose is specific and limited. Once completed there is no longer any reason to continue.

Contrast the Pontines with the great religious orders that still remain–the Benedictines, Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, Jesuits, et. al.  All had their ups and downs. They have gone through many cycles of existence partially because they all had a more universal purpose. In one way or another, this was to proclaim and witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Raymond Hostie S.J., who studied the life cycle of Religious Orders, published an important work entitled “The Life and Death of Religious Orders. His basic thesis is that a Religious order has a life cycle and life expectancy of about 250 years.

The Jesuits were approaching the end of the cycle when they were suppressed. In much of Europe the older religious orders were at low tide as well. What is interesting is that in the 1800’s–when the church itself was deeply wounded especially in France after it’s revolution–there was an efflorescence of religious life and the revival of the older orders as well.

The Jesuits had to start from scratch with the exception of the remnant allowed to exist in Catherine the Great’s Russian empire. Two hundred years into a second life cycle The Society of Jesus is in steep decline once again—at least in Europe and the Americas.

On the other hand there has been great growth in Asia and Africa. So it is not likely that the Jesuits will simple fade away. The huge growth in India, for example, has happened in my life time. On the other hand the rising persecution of Christians in third world countries is increasing. We can no doubt look forward to a new era of martyrdom. But their blood will seed the faith and hopefully restore the order.