Women in the Vanishing Cloister: Organizational Decline in Catholic Religious Orders in the United States

by Helen Rose Ebaugh

Book Overview

Religious orders for women have existed for fifteen centuries, but their future in this century is bleak. In 1966, 180,000 women belonged to Catholic orders; by 1986 that number had decreased to 126,000. Helen Rose Ebaugh tells the story of the decline of these orders, set against the back drop of rapid social change and religious reform. To illustrate the problem, Ebaugh takes us into a declining order, here named the Sisters of Service. In 1990,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813518660
• ISBN13: 9780813518664
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Length: 191 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Good Book

This book is an excellent examination of the decline of catholic religious order from a sociological perspective. I found it very insightful to those working in the creation or maintenance of religious communities.