And Why Isn’t Anyone Else?
From First Things
By Filip Mazurczak
Like Quebec, Ireland, or Boston, Spain
has epitomized the fading of Catholic faith. In the twentieth century,
religious practice in Spain fell sharply, especially as the country
transitioned to democracy and resentment of the Church’s support for
Franco’s dictatorship surfaced.
Recently, however, the downward
trend has stopped and is recovering. According to Centro de
Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS), the proportion of Spaniards
attending Mass has increased from 12.1 to 15 percent between 2011 and
2012. In absolute terms, the number of Spanish Catholics attending Mass
weekly grew by an astonishing further 23 percent between 2012 and 2013,
according to CIS. Meanwhile, between 2007 and 2013 the number of
Spaniards contributing part of their taxes to the Church rose from eight
to nine million.
Not only are Spaniards attending Mass more
frequently, but also youths are rediscovering the priesthood and
religious life. In 2013–2014, the number of Spanish diocesan seminarians
increased for a third consecutive year to 1321, a steady growth from
1227 in 2010–2011. Active female religious orders are also vibrant—each
year, about 400 Spanish girls become non-cloistered sisters, a slowly
increasing number. The number of women at the Poor Clares Convent of the
Ascension in Lerma has surged from 28 in 1994 to 134 in 2009. One of
the Lerma nuns, Sister Verónica, created her own community, Jesu
Communio. The Vatican approved the rapidly growing order, known as the
“sisters in jeans” because they wear denim habits, in 2010.
Immigration
cannot explain this growth in monastic and priestly vocations. Today,
young Spaniards are leaving the country for the more prosperous parts of
Latin America (especially Chile) and for Germany and Britain.
Considering Spain’s massive youth emigration and the fact that the
country has one of Europe’s lowest birth rates, Spain’s youth population
is shrinking, so this vocations rebound is more impressive.
