Abstract

This short article, taking a sociographic rather than a sociological point of view, describes the quantitative evolution of the Catholic clergy in Belgium: diocesan priests, seminarians, religious men and women. A sharp decline is to be seen since the period 1968-1970. For instance, there were 10,450 diocesan priests in 1961 but only 7,785 in 1980. For the last six years, however, the number of ordinations has remained relatively stable. Religious men numbered 10,039 in 1961, and 6,819 in 1980, but it seems that the monastic orders were less affected. Finally, nuns numbered 44,669 in 1961 and 26,352 today; more than half of them are 65 or older. Modest but real signs of new beginnings in a substantially renewed religious life are to be seen in various regions of the country.

How to Cite:

Delooz, P., (1986) “Gegevens over priesterlijke en religieuze roepingen”, Tijdschrift voor Sociologie 7(1-2), 239–253. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/sociologos.85941