This post is by CARA Executive Director Thomas Gaunt, SJ and is the fourth post in a series (1, 2, 3) in which CARA tracks changes among the Jesuits worldwide.The Jesuits are the world’s largest religious order with active ministries spanning across six continents. They steadily increased in number from their restoration in 1814 until 1965 when they reached their peak membership of 36,000. Since 1965 the total number of Jesuits worldwide has declined to 14,839 in 2020 but most notably the m...
