A Georgetown CARA study finds 82% of U.S. religious institutes had no perpetual vows in 2025, continuing a long-term decline in vocations.
Newsroom (28/01/2026 Gaudium Press ) In a revealing snapshot of contemporary religious life in the United States, Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) has found that the vast majority of Catholic religious institutes saw no one professing perpetual vows in 2025. The report, titled Women and Men Professing Perpetual Vows in Religious Life: The Profession Class of 2025, underscores the ongoing challenge of sustaining vocations across the nation’s religious communities.
According to the study, 82 percent of religious institutes reported not a single person making perpetual vows in 2025. About one in ten reported one profession, while only 8 percent saw between two and nine members committing to perpetual religious life. Altogether, religious institutes recorded 179 perpetual vows during the year — 74 women and 105 men — representing a fraction of what the Church once saw in mid‑20th‑century America.
The demographic data of those professing vows paint a distinct picture. Roughly 92 percent of those who made lifelong commitments to religious life were lifelong Catholics, while others entered the Church as adults, with conversions occurring at an average age of 20. Nearly all respondents were raised by their biological parents and had at least one Catholic parent.
The study shows that the majority of new religious were American by birth — about 69 percent — while others came from abroad, including 12 percent from Asia, 9 percent from Latin America, and 7 percent from Africa. Educational backgrounds reveal a consistent Catholic influence: half of respondents attended Catholic elementary or middle schools, one‑third attended Catholic high schools, and nearly four in ten were graduates of Catholic colleges or universities.
Preparation for religious life often began early. Almost every respondent reported participating regularly in prayer groups or similar faith‑based gatherings prior to entering. About 92 percent had attended at least one discernment program — events or retreats designed to help individuals explore a potential vocation.
Yet the path to commitment was not free of obstacles. More than half, or 53 percent, said they had been discouraged from joining religious life by someone they knew. Despite that, each ultimately chose to take the most permanent step of religious consecration.
CARA’s report, commissioned annually by the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has tracked trends in professed vows since 2010. The data serves as a cornerstone for U.S. Catholic leaders in assessing vocation patterns and developing pastoral responses timed to the World Day of Consecrated Life each February.
For the 2025 survey, CARA contacted 723 major superiors across U.S. religious institutes, receiving responses from 520 — a robust 72 percent participation rate. Of the 179 individuals identified as professing perpetual vows that year, 130, or about 73 percent, responded to the survey by early January 2026.
The findings reaffirm a sobering reality for many communities: while faith and commitment remain strong among those who choose religious life, they represent an increasingly small number within the Church’s broader landscape.
As the Church continues to navigate shifting demographics and cultural change, CARA’s report offers both a record and a reminder — that the call to lifelong religious vocation endures, even as fewer answer it each year.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from CNA
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