Newly professed survey released

The latest survey of newly professed men and women religious--released January 23, by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops--shows that the 2013 group, similar to its recent predecessors, is multi-ethnic, with an average age of 37 or younger, and with 10 percent reporting a delay in their formation due to education debt.

A total of 107 individuals filled out the survey, which was conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. Twenty-four percent were born outside of the U.S.

The ethnic breakdown was as follows:
•  74 percent Caucasian
•  14 percent Asian
•  12 percent Hispanic/Latino

About four in ten responders (43 percent) attended a Catholic elementary school, which is similar to that for all Catholic adults in the United States (42 percent). The survey respondents are more likely than other U.S. Catholics to have attended a Catholic high school (31 percent of respondents, compared to 22 percent of U.S. adult Catholics) and much more likely to have attended a Catholic college (30 percent of responding religious, compared to just 7 percent of U.S. adult Catholics).

Click here for the news release about the survey.

Click here for the full report.