Friday Reads: The Rise and Fall of Catholic Religious Orders

Happy Friday! Dr. Stanley doesn't seem to think that too many people will be fascinated by his current read, but we're sure there are a few of you out there. After all, Ranganathan's Third Law is "Every Book Its Reader." So read on and learn more about The Rise and Fall of Catholic Religious Orders by Patricia Wittberg.

In reading articles in newspapers and listening to news reports that talk about Catholic school closings and various dioceses addressing the need for parish consolidations I remembered that I had this book in my personal library from my days as a doctoral student. Although it was dry reading when I used it for research it was actually very interesting when reading it at a leisurely pace more for enjoyment.

There have been rises and falls of religious orders throughout the Church’s history and it was interesting to compare the reasons for this in the past versus the present. Reading about the effects of modern life and Vatican II upon the Catholic religion gives a clear overview of how the most recent “fall” began and offers hypotheses as to why it continues. But since the pendulum swings both ways it will be interesting to see what will be the outcome of Catholicism’s next metamorphosis.