The Vatican has released its final report on the Visitation of U.S. Religious orders that took place between 2009 and 2012, striking a mostly positive tone but warning orders to insure that their spiritual practices are in harmony with Church teaching.

The final report, which was dated September 8, 2014 and released today in Rome, is the result of reviewing 341 religious communities in the U.S. with 100 receiving personal visits from the lead investigators. Even though the visitation was in response to complaints about religious orders from the members themselves, the inquiry was met with a great deal of skepticism by some religious, which shrouded the process in controversy from the very beginning.

The Vatican acknowledged this situation in the report, saying that they are “well aware that the apostolic visitation was met with apprehension and suspicion by some women religious. This resulted in a refusal, on the part of some institutes, to collaborate fully in the process. While the lack of full cooperation was a painful disappointment for us, we use this present opportunity to invite all religious institutes to accept our willingness to engage in respectful and fruitful dialogue with them.”

However, the report goes on to delve into the main issues of concern with religious orders, such as their declining numbers.

“Today, the median age of apostolic women religious in the United States is in the mid-to-late 70s. The current number of approximately 50,000 apostolic women religious is a decline of about 125,000 since the mid-1960s, when the numbers of religious in the United States had reached their peak,” the report noted.

“It is important to note, however, that the very large numbers of religious in the 1960s was a relatively short-term phenomenon that was not typical of the experience of religious life through most of the nation’s history. The steady growth in the number of women religious peaked dramatically from the late 1940s through the early 1960s, after which it began to decline as many of the sisters who had entered during the peak years left religious life, the remaining sisters aged and considerably fewer women joined religious institutes.”

It went on to assess the efforts of orders to promote vocations which has not resulted in increases in many cases.

“Currently, a significant number of religious institutes are expending considerable spiritual and material energies in the area of vocation promotion,” the report states. “While some of these have since shown an increase in the number of candidates entering and remaining, for many other institutes the results are not commensurate with the expectations and efforts.”

As a result, “Some institutes reported that they have suspended vocation efforts for a variety of reasons, the most common being the declining membership and the ever-widening age gap between their current members and potential candidates.”

The report went on to note contradictions in what is written in the orders’ books about prayer and Scripture, and what is actually being put into practice.

“A review of the constitutions and other directives of apostolic religious institutes generally revealed that institutes have written guidelines for the reception of the sacraments and sound spiritual practices,” the report stated. “This Congregation asks the members of each institute to evaluate their actual practice of liturgical and common prayer. We ask them to discern what measures need to be taken to further foster the sisters’ intimate relationship with Christ and a healthy communal spirituality based on the Church’s sacramental life and sacred Scripture.”

It went on to say that “the church is continually challenged to a fresh understanding and experience of this mystical encounter. However, caution is to be taken not to displace Christ from the center of creation and of our faith.”

The report further called “upon all religious institutes to carefully review their spiritual practices and ministry to assure that these are in harmony with Catholic teaching about God, creation, the Incarnation and the Redemption.”

While its overall tone was highly positive, the report said orders of nuns in the U.S. “should carefully review their spiritual practices and ministry to assure that these are in harmony with Catholic teaching.”

The report is being received positively by most, including the sisters of the Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR) who are also under investigation although in a separate inquiry.

Sister Annmarie Sanders, IHM, director of communications for the LCWR, says the report, “which conveys a good understanding of the transitions that have occurred in religious life since the Second Vatican Council, is offered without negative judgment or any facile solutions. Instead, the synthesis of data resulted in a realistic and appreciative account of women’s religious life in the United States.”

The report offered a hopeful tone for religious sisters in the U.S. and reaffirmed that “this congregation is committed to collaborate in the realization of Pope Francis’ resolve that ‘the feminine genius’ find expression in the various settings where important decisions are made, both in the Church and in social structures.”

They conclude by expressing the hope “that together we may welcome this present moment as an opportunity to transform uncertainty and hesitancy into collaborative trust, so that the Lord may lead us forward in the mission he has entrusted to us on behalf of the people we serve.”

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