Life consecrated in Poland. We have statistics

On February 2, the Day of Consecrated Life will be celebrated in Poland by about 30 1000 people. Although the number of those willing to live in conventional communities of consecrated life is steadily decreasing after the 'boom' of the 1980s, it is worth noting a dynamic increase in interest, especially in fresh years, in individual forms, like hermits, virgins and widows.

Female Assembly inactive

The largest group of consecrated people in Poland are women – nuns surviving in active assemblies, i.e. those who are willing to cooperate with the Church in apostolic work. According to data from the erstwhile year, 105 spiritual conventions with different charisms and very diverse numbers are present in Poland on 31 December 2021. They are represented at the Conference of Higher Superiors of the Women's Order Assembly in Poland. 16,307 sisters live in these assemblies, in 2032 houses in all dioceses in Poland. 15 601 – these are pros perpetual, 479 – pros temporal, 131 – these are novices and 96 – postulants.

In addition, over 1845 sisters work outside Poland, including 532 sisters on missions and 287 in the East.

In addition, there are most likely about 40 communities in the country that are not associated with the Conference of Superiors most frequently from outside Poland and fewer (except the Sisters of parent Teresa of Calcutta). The conference has no figures on these communities.

Female Contemplative Orders

Another, much smaller, group of nuns are nuns surviving in contemplative orders. There are about 1220 of them in Poland. Most of them live in 83 monasteries, whose superiors are associated with the Conference of Superior Women Contemplative Monastery in Poland. All these monasteries represent 13 spiritual families, the most many of which are Carmelites. About 50 sisters live in monasteries that do not belong to the conference.

Statistical nun in Poland in 2022 was 58 years old. Of the 1165 sisters who lived in 2022 in the Orders associated with the Clausium Conference, 1062 are profesive, 56 are temporary professors, 32 are novices, and 15 are postulates. There are besides 26 aspirins. Aspirat is simply a new, mandatory component of formation, introduced in 2018 under regulations which besides extended the mandatory formation time in contemplation orders from 5 to 9 years.

Men’s Meetings

According to data from the erstwhile year, of 31 December 2021, Poland has 10,703 monks. He resides in the country 7913, working abroad 2790. Although among men's institutes it is besides possible to separate those dedicated to apostolic works and those dedicated only to contemplative life – specified as Kamedulas – they are all associated in 1 Conference of Higher Superiors of the Men's Orders in Poland (as opposed to women's gatherings, which have a separate Conference of Contemplative monasteries). It represents 59 spiritual families in 76 units. presently the most many are Franciscans – OFM (1171), Salesians (1016), Franciscans – OFM-Conv (881), pallotyni (568) and Jesuits (536). As regards vocations, there were 1,295 young consecrated people last year: 190 postulates (including 91 from Poland and 99 foreigners), 193 novices (including 115 from Poland and 78 foreigners), 831 clerics (including 565 from Poland and 266 foreigners) and 81 spiritual brothers in the first formation (including 77 from Poland and 4 foreigners).

Civil institutions

In Poland there are 32 secular institutes organized in the National Conference of Świecie Institutes (KKIS). They're mostly female bands. There is only 1 male institute – the secular institute of Christ the King. The Institute of the Holy household has 2 autonomous circles – men (priests and consecrated men) and women.

The number of institute members in Poland is presently 968, including 864 people are after perpetual vows, 68 after temporary vows, 36 performs preliminary formation. Of the 32 institutes in Poland 21 are native, 11 foreign.

Most members of the secular institutes live in the Diocese of Warsaw, Warsaw-Prague, Kielce, Kraków, Poznań.

Individual forms of consecrated life

Consecrated virgins, hermits and widows – individual forms of consecrated life, existing in ancient times, since the Vatican Council II they begin to revive and enjoy increasing popularity. In fresh years, we have seen spectacular growth. This form of life was chosen by about 800 people in Poland. 61 consecrations were held in 2022 alone.

According to the January 2023 data, there are presently 398 consecrated virgins in Poland (for comparison, in December 2021 there were 362 of them and in December 2019 – 322). Almost the same – 397 – is consecrated widows, including 1 widower (in December 2021 it was 375 people and in December 2018 – 329 people). There are besides 8 hermits and 1 hermit in Poland (in December 2018 – there were 2 hermits and 4 hermits)

People taking individual forms of consecrated life are already in all dioceses in the country. As for consecrated widows, the most of them are in the Archdiocese of Łódź (75 people) and Szczecińsko – stone (37). The most consecrated virgins are the Archdiocese of Krakow (57), Warsaw (36) and Gdansk (29). As for hermits, 2 people live in the Archdiocese of Łódź and the Diocese of Elbląska.

In 2022 33 consecrations of virgins, 26 consecrations of widows and 2 hermitage consecrations were held. In the archdiocese of Warsaw alone there are 20 candidates for the state of virgins.

New movements, fresh communities

The reality of consecrated life is very dynamic. fresh forms, fresh communities are constantly being created. According to Vatican statistics, respective 100 communities have late received papal approval. This is possible erstwhile the community already has at least 170 members who have taken spiritual vows. It is not known how many specified groups in the planet are only at the beginning of their path. fresh groups are besides formed in Poland, although they are not included in any statistics.

Source: KAI