150,000 converts this year at Easter

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traillius said:
You may have an axe to grind against the catholic church, which would provide a bias, meaning any stats you present would be in question.
Non-denoms do not consist to a single denomination. of course if you want to change the definition of the word…
and do " non-denoms " have 150,000 non infants joining this year ( or expected to ) in the US? If so, then please provide some valid reference.
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Traillius drop the condescending language in your posts. I have no axe to grind with the Catholic church and no intentions of distorting any data. CARA which has been reporting stats specifically for the Catholic church for a long time is one of my sources.

As far as non-denoms not holding to a specific denomination yes that would be the point of being called non-denominational ehh 🤷 Usually non-denoms are more associated with the restoration movement which according to CARA and many other pew studies is the single fastest growing segment of Christianity. It’s a plain fact and does not represent an indictment against the RCC at all.
 
My wife and I are amoung the converts!

I can’t say I am suprised. We had close to 500 in the Austin area.
 
thearda.com/

This web site has lots of statiscal data [you have to search around for it …

See this page for numbers of adherants, churches and clergy 1925 - 2005 for Catholics …membership increasing. Roman Catholic Church| Religious Groups | The Association of Religion Data Archives

And here for the American Baptist Churches in the USA [formerly the Amrican Baptist Convention] 1971 - 2005 - membership declining … thearda.com/Denoms/D_1454.asp

Churches of Christ 1929 - 2005 … also declining thearda.com/Denoms/D_1093.asp

Missouri Synod Lutherans 1925 - 2005 … also declining thearda.com/Denoms/D_887.asp

But there are pages and pages of denominations …

this site also has a denominational family tree and has tracks the fracturing of various denominational congregations [and various legal name changes] through the 1900’s to the present time as well … It is very interesting … 🙂 Hope this helps
 
YADA said:
thearda.com/

This web site has lots of statiscal data [you have to search around for it …

See this page for numbers of adherants, churches and clergy 1925 - 2005 for Catholics …membership increasing. http://www.thearda.com/Denoms/D_836.asp
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And here for the American Baptist Churches in the USA [formerly the Amrican Baptist Convention] 1971 - 2005 - membership declining … thearda.com/Denoms/D_1454.asp

Churches of Christ 1929 - 2005 … also declining thearda.com/Denoms/D_1093.asp

Missouri Synod Lutherans 1925 - 2005 … also declining thearda.com/Denoms/D_887.asp

But there are pages and pages of denominations …

this site also has a denominational family tree and has tracks the fracturing of various denominational congregations [and various legal name changes] through the 1900’s to the present time as well … It is very interesting … 🙂 Hope this helps

Yada the only problem is they stop at 2005.
 
traillius said:
You may have an axe to grind against the catholic church, which would provide a bias, meaning any stats you present would be in question.
Non-denoms do not consist to a single denomination. of course if you want to change the definition of the word…
and do " non-denoms " have 150,000 non infants joining this year ( or expected to ) in the US? If so, then please provide some valid reference.
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Watch out for that plank. We’re all guilty of bias and Catholics are known to change the definitions of words frequently depending on teh context of the conversation.
 
well, I guess they don’t have 150,000 new non infant members expected in the US in 2009. Perhaps you mean that the percentage growth is highest. Probably not in absolute numbers but relative to the size of the group itself,
i.e. 10 members grows to 20. voila… a 100% increase
 
ckempston said:
Watch out for that plank. We’re all guilty of bias and Catholics are known to change the definitions of words frequently depending on teh context of the conversation.
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Indeed. Sadly my wood burns in my own fireplace mostly, and is of a different color than this argument’s smoke.
 
NDfan said:
Ralph that’s a good one. That was my first thought when I read the OP.

Not trying to be shady. No doubt some Protestant groups are doing better than others but so what. They’re still viewed as being outside the Catholic church right?
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Well, I am on a one Catholic crusade around here to get my brethren from lumping you people together all the time. A little help would be appriciated :p:D.

If we should not lump in theological discussions, which are the heart of the matter, we should not lump at all.
 
traillius said:
well, I guess they don’t have 150,000 new non infant members expected in the US in 2009. Perhaps you mean that the percentage growth is highest. Probably not in absolute numbers but relative to the size of the group itself,
i.e. 10 members grows to 20. voila… a 100% increase
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So let’s put the 150,000 into perspective. The RCC loses 700,000 according to CARA from 2005 to 2008. So really the RCC is down 550,000 overall from 2005-2009. Is it really worth bragging about? Remember David was punished for taking a census. That’s like my portfolio manager saying hey I made you 150,000 dollars this year. Then I say yeah but you lost 700,000 over the last 3 years. I’m still under water.
 
ralphinal said:
Well, I am on a one Catholic crusade around here to get my brethren from lumping you people together all the time. A little help would be appriciated :p:D.

If we should not lump in theological discussions, which are the heart of the matter, we should not lump at all.
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Ralph yes indeed!!!
 
NDfan said:
Yada the only problem is they stop at 2005.
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I do not think that the Catholic Church has seen less conversions or significant drops in numbers since 2005 [and a few posts back someone said the church membership was declining in numbers … ]

I believe that 2006, 2007 and 2008 all had Easter Vigil statistics for conversions and professions of faith [christians coming from other faith traditions are technically not ‘converts’] over 100,000 … I’ll see if I can find links to the reports for those years … this year is not vastly different - though my parish had a smaller group his year … the numbers per individual parish can fluctuate some annually but Church wide they don’t change that much … and over time are on the increase …

There are various reasons people comeino the church… some of those brought into the church are anticipating a Church wedding … or they are already married to a catholic …

However, we get some each year - who just make this decision wholly from outside the influences listed above…they come as individuals, as couples and as couples with children - where the whole family comes in …
 
YADA said:
I do not think that the Catholic Church has seen less conversions or significant drops in numbers since 2005 [and a few posts back someone said the church membership was declining in numbers … ]

I believe that 2006, 2007 and 2008 all had Easter Vigil statistics for conversions and professions of faith [christians coming from other faith traditions are technically not ‘converts’] over 100,000 … I’ll see if I can find links to the reports for those years … this year is not vastly different - though my parish had a smaller group his year … the numbers per individual parish can fluctuate some annually but Church wide they don’t change that much … and over time are on the increase …

There are various reasons people comeino the church… some of those brought into the church are anticipating a Church wedding … or they are already married to a catholic …

However, we get some each year - who just make this decision wholly from outside the influences listed above…they come as individuals, as couples and as couples with children - where the whole family comes in …
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Yada as mentioned in another post CARA has reported data to 2008 for the US. The Catholic church declined from 64.8 million to 64.1 million members over that 3 year period. As also mentioned this only reflects those that formally notify their local bishop.
 
ckempston said:
Yeah, well, a Catholic was the one to bring up numbers to impress everyone. That’s why I asked the question about U.S. vs. worldwide conversions. But in any case, you’re appeal to the work of the Holy Spirit is only a half-truth. Jesus said the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. That shoe seems to fit. And does that include infant baptisms?
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Well, Protestants are always bragging about their converts or those that “excepted Christ as their Lord and Saviour”. Even the major crusaders like Billy Graham keep track of the number that come forward to “receive Christ”.
 
Truth said:
Well, Protestants are always bragging about their converts or those that “excepted Christ as their Lord and Saviour”. Even the major crusaders like Billy Graham keep track of the number that come forward to “receive Christ”.
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Truth I think to put this whole ridiculous argument into perspective we need to remember the following. We should always rejoice when someone who does not know Christ comes to know and accept HIM. It should never matter if that happened through the evangelization efforts of the Catholic church or Protestant churches. We should always be saddened when someone rejects Christ because as Christians we believe eternal life with GOD can only be obtained through Christ. Someone switching between denominations to me is a non-event and is never worth bragging about. Christ never put a premium on numbers but stated that the harvest is full and laborers few. So any efforts anyone puts into converting someone from one denomination to another has no affect on the harvest except to show the laborers are not focusing on what they should be focusing on.

PEACE
 
Now, if you people REALLY wanted to see some numbers, why not take out those who leave the Catholic Faith for other forms of Christianity, those who leave other forms for us, and only look at what is left.

How many are leaving to be Muslim?

How many Muslims are joining us?

How many are leaving to be atheists/agnostics?

How many atheists/agnostics are coming home?

And so on
 
NDfan said:
Yada as mentioned in another post CARA has reported data to 2008 for the US. The Catholic church declined from 64.8 million to 64.1 million members over that 3 year period. As also mentioned this only reflects those that formally notify their local bishop.
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Are you speaking about this CARA report? …

cara.georgetown.edu/Winter%202008.pdf

Because this report says this in its last paragrah
In summary, **there is no reason to believe that there has been some recent mass exodus from the Catholic faith **nor are those who have left disproportionately among any specific racial, ethnic, or citizenship group. Retention rates are the most valid measurements of the magnitude of religious change. The absolute numbers of members lost, given the different sizes of U.S. faith groups, is less meaningful. Without this context, the Pew study may have left the impression that a vast number of Catholics recently got up and left the faith and that these losses were worse than those experienced by any other faith. In relative terms—as the percentage of those who retained the affiliation of their childhood—the Catholic Church has been among the most successful faiths in the United States. The changes that have occurred in the Catholic population have been incremental and have occurred most often among young adults and teen Catholics. These demographics should be a primary area of future study and would be a good focus of efforts to reduce future losses among the Catholic faithful.
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Bolding mine … I did not see any raw populations numbers … but this report is from 2008 🤷
 
ConfusedTim said:
Given the scandals that have rocked the church in recent years this seems to be a massive number of converts. I would like figures of the type of churches that they are coming from. Is it mainline protestants or the mega church types that have got bored with the glitz and show biz?
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I’m one of those 150,000 proud converts.

I don’t know where to even begin finding actual statistics that can shed light on the religions from which us converts are coming, so all I can offer is an anecdote:

My own RCIA class was very diverse. There were 4 former Mormons (I being one of them), 4 former Lutherans, a whoping 9 former Evangelicals, 3 Episcopalians/Anglicans, 2 Orthodox Christians (1 Eastern, 1 Coptic), 1 Jew, 1 Jehovah’s Witness, 2 Baptists, and 3 Muslims.

I do also live in the very diverse San Francisco Bay Area, which probably accounts for the diversity.
 
Okay, I looked at the CARA staistics you reported
Catholic Population 2005 64.8 [23% of US population] and 2008 64.1 [22% of US population]
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The differcne in 1% could really be meaningfull or may be a staistical anomally …

In my diocese, we are required to take a Mass Attendance count annually the first Sunday in December [this is actually counting the people in the pews after Mass has started]… Additionally, our parish takes a count on the first Sunday of every month … many things can affect the numbers - we see this when we look back over the previous 10 years or so - which we do once at month during our admin council meetings …

Snow storms - can impact these numbers significantly as can local events … even from one Mass to another a parish event may skew the numbers between Masses on a given Sunday … We always note those “factors” if we recognize them on the day the count is taken …Because we have been consistantly taking these counts, noting anomallies like holidays, Holy days, weather and local impacts, I know that a 1% change may not truly be significant …

I cannot find where CARA lists the limitations of the statistical sampling error either but for a 1% deviation being truly significant would mean almost zero sampling error … nor do I find analysis that might account for differences in questions, numbers sampled, improved polling techniques.

Just my two cents … now if this was a trend that you could see over a longer period of time say 10 - 15 years … but the 22 - 23 % Nationally and 17-18 % world wide seems to be holding …
 
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