Replies

The decline of monastic spirituality in the Western Church is one of the saddest legacies of the "Spirit of Vatican II"
because the monks and contemplative nuns are the backbone of the Church.

I pray for the revival of traditional monasticism and the revaluation of monasticism. Instead, many of the monastic orders have been polluted by the Modernist ethic of Thomas Merton, and the orders of nuns by feminism.

The decline of monastic spirituality in the Western Church is one of the saddest legacies of the "Spirit of Vatican II" because the monks and contemplative nuns are the backbone of the Church.

I agree that the contemplative orders are the backbone of the Church but would not go so far as you to attribute their decline to VCII.

I pray for the revival of traditional monasticism and the revaluation of monasticism.

Your prayers are answered! There has been a revival of monasticism but not in the so called 'traditional' orders. Mother Angelica's order is contemplative. In fact, Arizona Bishop Olmstead approached Mother Angelica and asked her to send him a group of sisters to establish a monastery in the desert where they could pray for his diocese. She acceded to his request and sent 5 sisters. Since then, this branch, along with the founding order, has grown.

Bishop Olmsted with the Phoenix Phive
Bishop Olmsted has the wonderful gift of putting those with him very much at ease. We especially appreciated this as we nervously took to the stage to tape the Life on the Rock episode for EWTN.

And there are other orders that have formed under the pontificate of JPII. Unfortunately, I don't have links at this time.

And what are the stats for the Orthodox Church, the Protestant Church, etc.

I would make a wild guess that compared to world population they all diminished in numbers.

BTW, did you see the thread about the Muslims losing membership and converting to Christianity? Can't find it right now.