Benedictine Orders Shrinking

● Throughout the world there are some 600 communities of Benedictine monks and nuns. Now this order of the Roman Catholic Church finds itself in a period of sharp decline. Newsweek comments: “Like other orders, they are losing 10 per cent of their priests and sisters every year and are finding replacements hard to attract. At Italy’s famous Monte Cassino . . . only 25 monks remain in an abbey that could accommodate 150.”