This document summarizes a conference presentation on the changing demographics affecting Benedictine sponsorship of colleges and universities. It notes that Benedictine communities are shrinking while student populations are growing and becoming more diverse. It discusses two perspectives on sponsorship - a formal relationship versus a ministry. It also addresses partnering to achieve common goals like recruitment and retention through cultural competence and mission-centered coordination. Sustaining the sponsorship ministry requires commitment to goals, developing the ministry through formation, and monasteries collaborating to carry it out.

1. Sr. Edith Bogue, O.S.B., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Sociology
Sister Beverly Raway, O.S.B., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Nursing
Benedictine Pedagogy Conference 2013
Benedictine University, Lisle IL

3. Sponsorship Considerations
• CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS
―Monastery, College, US Population
• UNDERSTANDINGS OF SPONSORSHIP
―Formal relationship or Ministry
• PARTNERING FOR COMMON GOALS
―Recruiting, Retaining
• SUSTAINING THE MINISTRY
― Commitment, Goals, Collaboration

4. CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS

5. Seeing change
• A graphic presentation of one community’s
growth and then decrease of membership.
• Each “dot” represents one sister, ranging in
age from the teens on the left to the 90s on
the right.

6. 1892

7. 1899

8. 1909
The community begins to think about extending its high
school to include a college as well. “Sponsorship” is inherent
in the Sisters’ ownership & roles.

9. 1919

10. 1929

11. 1939

12. 1949

13. 1959

14. 1969
The College is beginning to grow after 25 years of stable size.
Separately incorporated, Sisters now sit on Board, but
exercise sponsorship through daily contact.

15. 1979

16. 1989

17. 1996

18. 2001

19. 2006

20. 2012

21. 1969 and 2012
The monastic community is about 18% of its peak size. Fewer
than 10 are employed in the College; others serve on the
Board. The pool for the future is small.

22. This pattern is common in US
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
1965 1975 1985 1995 2000 2005 2012
Thousands
US Religious Men (Priests + Brothers) US Religious sisters
70% decrease
52% decrease
Center for Applied Research on the Apostolate Frequently Requested Statistics
http://cara.georgetown.edu/CARAServices/requestedchurchstats.html

23. Colleges are growing …
The student
body in 2012
is 800% of
the size of
that of 1965.

24. Differences among students
Traditional
students: 25-30%
are Catholic.
Online /
extended studies
students: About
13% report that
they are Catholic.

25. 1 in 3 Young Adults is a “None”
Percent by Age Group
9
15
21
32
90
84
77
67
0 20 40 60 80 100
65+
50-64
30-49
18-29
AGEGROUP
No religious affiliation Any religious affiliation
Aggregated from Pew Research Center Surveys January – July 2012
https://twitter.com/pewforum/status/337618956355518467/photo/1

26. Changing student dynamics
• Is there a critical mass of Catholic students?
Christian students? Religious students?
• How do the non-Catholic and the non-religious
students affect sponsorship & charism?
• What about future lay faculty and staff?

27. Face of Catholicism is changing
• Generational differences within Catholics.
• Over half of Catholics under 40 are now
Hispanic or members of other non-White
racial or ethnic groups
―Contrasts with the northern European heritage of
most of our Benedictine communities

28. Shifting Demographics of
American Catholics
78
70
60
47
44
61
66
16
24
32
47
47
32
15
5
7
8
7
9
7
19
0 20 40 60 80 100
65+
50-64
40-49
30-39
18-29
All Catholics
US General Public
White Hispanic Other
U.S. Catholics: Key Data from Pew Research
http://www.pewresearch.org/2013/02/25/u-s-catholics-key-data-from-pew-research/#popchange

29. CHANGING
UNDERSTANDING
OF SPONSORSHIP

30. Two Perspectives
“We are refocusing our
commitment of
sponsorship in ways that
invite those who work with
us to bear witness to
Gospel values through
deeds of love and service.”
-Annunciation Monastery
Sponsorship…is a formal
relationship between a
recognized Catholic
organization and a legally
formed entity, entered into
for the sake of promoting
and sustaining the
Church’s mission in the
world.
-Canon Law Society of
America
Committee on Consecrated Life

31. “We, the women and men of the Church, are in the middle
of a love story: each of us is a link in this chain of love…”
“When the Church wants to boast of its quantity and
makes organizations, and makes offices and become
somewhat bureaucratic, then the Church loses its main
substance and is in danger of turning into an NGO.”
“And the Church is not an NGO. It's a love story ...
Offices are required ... ok! but they are necessary up to a
certain point: as an aid to this love story. But when
organization takes first place, love falls down and the
Church, poor thing, becomes an NGO. And this is not the
way forward.”
Pope Francis
Homily, 24 April 2013

32. Sponsorship as ministry
• Monastic communities founded colleges as a
way of sharing this Gospel “love story”
• As monastic ministry, sponsorship continues
the Gospel love story and – when needed –
may question a bureaucratic focus.

33. PARTNERING FOR
COMMON GOALS

34. Recruitment
• “Cultural competence”
―“Everybody is ethnocentric. So what can we do about it?”
―“The WEIRDest people in the world”
• Counter-cultural relevance
―“Your ways should not be the same as the world’s ways”
―Respond to the emptiness and loneliness of modern life
Barger, Ken. (2008) Ethnocentrism. http://www.iupui.edu/~anthkb/ethnocen.htm
Henrich et al (2010) The WEIRDest people in the world http://ssrn.com/abstract=1601785

35. Retention
• Mission-centered coordination with
Benedictine or faith-based organizations for
internships, service-learning, employment.
• College-Monastery coordination to prepare
new monastics for roles, and structure roles to
strengths of new members.

36. SUSTAINING
THE MINISTRY

37. Sustaining: More than Surviving
• Commitment to sponsorship ministry
• Goals for sponsorship
• Developing the ministry of sponsorship
―Formation for Benedictine communities
―Formation for College / University communities
• Monasteries collaborating with each other to
carry out the ministry of sponsorship.

38. A ministry of sponsorship
can connect the
monastery and the college
so that they work together
to build a future in which
their shared love of
learning carries the
Gospel ‘love story’ into
the future.