When a reporter recently called me for comment on the Vatican investigation of American women religious, I told him that it was too little too late. The feelings surrounding the inquiry are intense, but the stakes are notably small. Those orders under scrutinyâ??ones that have given up the habit, communal life, and strict prayer, often out of a laudable desire to promote social justiceâ??are in painful decline. Arguments over their choices grow more irrelevant by the day. Other orders that have embraced old disciplines like singing the Divine Office, performing manual labor, and wearing the habit have fared much better.
The habit seems to be a particularly important factor for the success of religious communities. A 2009 survey conducted by the Center for Applied Research of the Apostolate found that two-thirds of new members had joined religious orders that wore habits. The authors concluded:
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