Walsh University is one of many Catholic higher ed institutions that has had to adjust as sponsoring orders grow smaller and withdraw more from campus life. Governance structures at Catholic colleges and universities are rapidly changing as their sponsoring orders of nuns and priests shrink in size and relinquish some of their historic leadership responsibilities. A new report by the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges details the varied strategies university leaders are using to retain their missions and a sense of religious identity amid the shift. Ninety percent of Catholic higher ed institutions in the U.S. were founded by religious orders whose members often served as presidents, trustees and faculty members, the report noted. But the numbers of sisters, brothers and priests has fallen precipitously across the country as religious orders age and struggle to attract new members, according to the report. About 70 percent of the roughly 54,000 religious order members were age 70 or older in 2022, compared to just 7 percent almost 25 years ago. That demographic change has serious implications for the governance structures of Catholic colleges and universities, which rely on the members of the religious orders as formal ties to the Catholic Church. That demographic change has serious implications for the governance structures of Catholic colleges and universities, which rely on the members of the religious orders as formal ties to the Catholic Church. “It’s a massive cultural shift,” said the Reverend James Heft, a scholar in residence at the University of Dayton, a Catholic institution in Ohio. He also wrote a book called The Future of Catholic Education and founded the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California. “We’re in the process of sorting that out,” he said, of the structural changes. “And some of us are going to do a better job at it than others.” The report, based on a survey of 158 Catholic colleges and universities, follows up on a similar study on sponsorship relationships conducted 23 years ago. A third of survey respondents reported that their governance arrangements changed in the last five years because sponsors were no longer able to fulfill their traditional duties. Another 15 percent said sponsors told them to expect future governance changes for the same reason. The Reverend Dennis Holtschneider, president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities and an author of the report, said religious orders were already starting to shrink two decades ago. They responded by taking on governance powers, such as serving on boards of trustees and requiring sponsor approval on certain decisions, to maintain influence as their presence on campuses dwindled. “Now, with this study, what’s very clear is that they’re reducing their powers,” Father Holtschneider said. “They’ve come to a point where they realize they can no longer be involved in schools that they founded,” at least to the same degree, “and they’re coming to new arrangements for laity to take over the roles of governing these schools as they step aside.” Leaders of the religious orders and their universities are responding to the shift in a number of ways.