Is religious life dying or evolving?

I'm reading a book by Diarmuid O'Murchu, a Catholic priest and social psychologist from Ireland,  called Religious Life in the 21st Century. He describes the rise and fall of religious life throughout history. After flourishing for a period of time, there is a decline which seems to be repeated every 300 years or so. He attributes the decline to both internal and external factors.This cyclic view offers hope that religious life will prevail,
                                                                                                                                                         
O'Murchu draws widely from serious research regarding the history of religious orders and congregations, especially Fitz and Cada, Sandra Schneiders, and Walter Brueggemann. He gives particular attention to the women abbesses and foundresses whose significance has been largely distorted or ignored since earlier histories were written primarily by men.

He speaks of liminal space where religious women and men radiate values that empower and liberate both vowed and lay people. According to O'Murchu, "the vows need to be revisioned afresh, not as a set of laws governing and guiding internal behavior... but as a set of values that in liminal terms compel us to engage more authentically with the evolutionary breakthroughs of our time." He believes religious life needs to be refounded to bring about what he calls a "Companionship of Empowerment"(kingdom of God). To do this, he says we will need various resources: cosmic consciousness, contemplation reclaimed, earth literacy, community empowerment, political networking, multi-faith facilitation, mass media and more. He foresees a rebirth toward the end of the 21st century.