I think we have pretty much established, at this point, that the folks who run The Baltimore Sun may be interested in some (but not all) Catholic events and trends in their historically significant city. However, it is also true that they appear to have zero interest, or thereabouts, in asking WHY certain events and trends are so common in Catholic life. A bunch of Catholic schools close and that's certainly news. Why do some schools (and parishes) close and not others? Not a clue.
The number of priests, nuns and other religious keep declining. Why do some parishes (and, yes, dioceses) produce young Catholics who want to give their lives to the church, while others do not? Ah, who cares?
Why do some Catholic religious orders grow, while others decline? Is that a trick question?
I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
The missing word in all of this, of course, is "demographics," that word that is often found married to the word "destiny."
Another classic example of this Sun trend landed in my front yard just the other day. Since the headline included the word "nuns" -- nuns are hot in the news at the moment, in case you haven't noticed -- I thought that this sad, but interesting, story might have some depth.
Sad? Yes, sad AND all too familiar. Here's the headline:
Order of Roman Catholic nuns to sell Towson property
Mission Helpers will put West Joppa Road convent and grounds on market
Here's one of the early fact paragraphs that begins the process of filling out the details:
In a news release ..., the sisters, whose order was founded 122 years ago on Biddle Street, said the decision to sell the 4.5-acre property on West Joppa Road came after a comprehensive review of the community's financial situation and in preparation for a new phase of ministerial service.
"In our review of our assets, we knew the priority had to be the care of our retired sisters," said Sister Elizabeth Langmead, vice president of the congregation. "We are a missionary community. We must use our resources for those missions and not to further the use of a building."
According to the community's website, retirement expenses have increased 89 percent since 2004 and caring for the elderly sisters accounts for 34 percent of the order's annual expenses. Much of the sisters' income comes from Social Security benefits and compensation for services to various parishes and ministries.
"Like so many, the Mission Helpers lost 29 percent of their investment portfolio between July 2008 and June 2009," the annual finance report says.
If you keep reading this story, you soon discover that this is essentially a real-estate report, with some financial overtones about the aging of America. The sisters do not have a place to relocate. They have not set an asking price for their strategically located three-story convent. The chances for a profitable sale appear to be good. Etc., etc.
About halfway into the piece, readers do learn the following (which is very old news to anyone who follows Catholic affairs in the early 21st Century):
Sister Janice Bader, a member of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood who works for the National Religious Retirement Office in Washington, said the order is facing a problem affecting many other Catholic communities across the country.
The number of priests and nuns is declining, she said. Religious orders "are not attracting new members at the same rate as 50 or 60 years ago." Many congregations are also coping with large buildings that are underused and costly to maintain.
Note, of course, that Sun editors accept as fact the statement that all religious orders are "not attracting new members at the same rate as 50 or 60 years ago" -- a statement that simply is not true. Yes, it is helpful to know that "many," but not all, are actually experiencing financial distress.
However, there is another side to this equation, altogether. There are Catholic religious orders that are having to build new facilities, due to incoming waves of those who want to serve and pray. However, it appears certain that this Baltimore community does not appear to be one of those orders.
It might be interesting to ask some questions about that, but I understand that this is a real-estate story and that kind of theological inquiry might be out of bounds. No need to ask if this groups is associated with the progressive Leadership Conference of Women Religious or with the more conservative Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious. In the current news context, why would anyone want to know that?
However, here is what I DO NOT understand. It's crucial for the readers to be told something about the plight of this particular local community, to know how many nuns are left, their average age, the amount of money they have in reserve to care for these women and, yes, how many young (say, under 40 years of age) sisters are left to carry the load. How about some details of their ministries?
I mean, do these women matter at all?