A diocese by diocese comparison. How does your diocese stack up? (US dioceses only)

[johnnykins]

Gee - the study has Boston with 3.9million adherents. That number cannot possibly be right - closer to 1.5 million, maybe 2 million.

The TOTAL population for the Boston Archdiocese might be 3.9 million - but that includes everyone.

I wonder what stats were skewed with that error?

 

[geezerbob]

According to the 2006 annual report on their web site, the number is “almost two million.”

 

[mary_bobo]

Knoxville’s ranked first, but was not in the Midwest last I checked.

Indeed it is not. I’m there and I’m not in the mid-west.

 

[Lepanto]

Indeed it is not. I’m there and I’m not in the mid-west.

Well, there really is no universal definition for “midwest.” It all depends how the various regions are broken down for the purposes of the study. The midwest is not a state, with clear and legally defined borders, but a “chunk” of the country, just as the “southwest” or “northeast” is.

Some religious orders count all of the US as one “province” for example.

 

[Holly3278]

My diocese must be somewhere in the middle. Its not listed on the Top 20 dioceses or the Lowest 20 dioceses.

 

[wilkerl]

Unlike all the other postings, I must say my diocese is a #10. Why? Well, we have two great priests. One is a former Lutheran minister and he loves the Catholic Church and appreciates how blessed he is to be a Catholic priest, he has taught us that appreciation. He knows the Bible and we learn so much about the history of the church from him. He’s a learned man. Our other priest is Mexican and studied in Rome. He’s a very spiritual man and we are also blessed to have him. We have a large Mexican Spanish speaking population in our diocese. So this is perfect for us.

We are traditional, but then we are flexible. We have a teen mass with piano, drummer, flute, and guitars. The other masses are more traditional music. All masses have different choirs with different styles. Our congregation sings out. Who said Catholics can’t sing?

We take communion on our tongue or in our hands. We sip the wine from a chalice. In that sense we remain traditional as well.
We have recently built a large church to house the large congregation. Although it is very beautiful and preferable, I would have been just as in love with our church if we’d stayed in the old church for all of the above reasons.

I must say that I enjoy visiting other churches and as I travel a lot, I get that opportunity. I’ve been to churches in Italy, England, Alabama, Texas, Arizona, Pennsylvania and most recently Georgia, and I have to say I found them all stellar. In Texas and Pennsylvania I attended churches which must have been built and designed in the late sixties. They used banners a lot and they didn’t have the feel of a Roman Catholic Church. However, once the mass began, those things really didn’t matter.

Well, for what it’s worth, that is my opinion on my diocese and most dioceses that I have attended in the last four years I’m proud to say in their behalf.

Blessings to all,
wilkerl

 

[Bob_Byrnes]

I haven’t seen these comparisons and don’t know where to find them, but for my part the only true way to rate a Diocese is to ask "What does it do for the poor ? " To me that should be the purpose of the Church and of course all of its dioceses.

 

[lak611]

Here’s how mine rates.

Cleveland (OH) 153

153 out of 176 is bad.

 

[wilkerl]

I haven’t seen these comparisons and don’t know where to find them, but for my part the only true way to rate a Diocese is to ask "What does it do for the poor ? " To me that should be the purpose of the Church and of course all of its dioceses.

 

[wilkerl]

Very true, Mr. Byrnes, I forgot to mention that our diocese runs many organizations, none the least is a St. Vincent de Paul store which also hands out money and food to the most needy and we make second collections each week for this purpose as well as other charities. We run a shelter for abused women and children; Meals on Wheels for those aged and in wheel chairs and other services for these folks. I think we have this covered in the major factor which makes for a great parish. These recipients don’t have to be in our faith, I might add.

The other writers in this thread were mentioning their priests or lack of priests. So in my travels, I have only seen one parish who didn’t have a priest, but had a great deacon who served in this way and many priests from other parishes and monasteries travelled to this church to serve each Sunday.

wilkerl

 

[Lepanto]

but for my part the only true way to rate a Diocese is to ask "What does it do for the poor ? " To me that should be the purpose of the Church and of course all of its dioceses.

Although aiding the poor is obviously key to the mission of the Church, it is NOT the Church’s primary purpose or “only true way.” Her primary purpose is the worship of God and the sanctification of the people.

The two great commandments that contain the whole law of God are:

1. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength;
2. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

For the Church, our love of neighbor in commandment #2 is secondary to our love of God, and is done out of the love of God found in commandment #1. That’s the difference between the Catholic Church and the Peace Corp.

From Matthew 22:35-40:
And one of them, a doctor of the Law, putting him to the test, asked him, “Master, which is the great commandment in the Law?” Jesus said to him, “‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind.’ This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like it, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

 

[Sr_Sally]

Here’s how mine rates. 153 out of 176 is bad.

This is the problem with rankings. Somehow one will be best and one will be worst. They aren’t going to say “we have 176 ties for 1st place.” Yes, I know some diocese in the US are in terrible trouble, but you can’t really rank a rural diocese with an inner-city one. Or one in a traditionally Catholic area with one in a ‘mission’ area.

Let this remind us all to pray for the Church locally and world-wide and especially to pray for our priests!

 

[Rolltide]

For what it’s worth, you have to scroll down to near the end of the report to see table with the rankings of ALL dioceses, in alphabetical order.

 

[Orionthehunter]

Did you see this the Ratio of Adherents per Priest:

Boston (MA): One Priest for every 8,912 Catholics
Ft. Worth (TX) 10,000
Galveston–Houston (TX) 10,170
Orange (CA) 10,776
Los Angeles (CA) 12,675
El Paso (TX) 13,388
San Bernardino (CA) 13,987
Dallas (TX) 14,049
Brownsville (TX) 15,993
Las Vegas (NV) 19,998

No wonder they have problems in those dioceses. Without Priests, there are no sacraments. Without Sacraments, there is a void of Grace. Without abundant grace, there is sin.

 

[Rolltide]

Did you see this the Ratio of Adherents per Priest:

Boston (MA): One Priest for every 8,912 Catholics
Ft. Worth (TX) 10,000
Galveston–Houston (TX) 10,170
Orange (CA) 10,776
Los Angeles (CA) 12,675
El Paso (TX) 13,388
San Bernardino (CA) 13,987
Dallas (TX) 14,049
Brownsville (TX) 15,993
Las Vegas (NV) 19,998

No wonder they have problems in those dioceses. Without Priests, there are no sacraments. Without Sacraments, there is a void of Grace. Without abundant grace, there is sin.

Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, and Las Vegas are among the fastest growing cities in the nation, and nine of these ten cities are in southwest, where there has been a huge wave of Hispanic immigration. We’re probably looking at a situation where the infrastructure hasn’t caught up with the demographics yet.

 

[lak611]

Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, and Las Vegas are among the fastest growing cities in the nation, and nine of these ten cities are in southwest, where there has been a huge wave of Hispanic immigration. We’re probably looking at a situation where the infrastructure hasn’t caught up with the demographics yet.

Do you know if any of these new immigrants are entering the seminaries?

 

[cecilia97]

Thanks for posting this! My diocese is middling, but I found this part on page 10 (below) interesting. When I lived up north for a while, I was shocked at how complacent some of the Catholics there could be…they were maybe not so lucky to grow up without the “are you saved?” and “you worship Mary” type schoolmates. I never would have thought that was a good thing before!

Of course, it could be we have fewer complacent Catholics here because they just leave for mega churches.

“So the Church is, by this measure, most healthy in that region that is traditionally the least hospitable to it, and is least healthy in that region where it has the longest history, and in which are found both the greatest concentration of Catholics (as a percent of the population) and the largest number of Catholics
(19,851,345, according to diocesan reports, versus 16,857,896 in the Industrial Midwest, where other surveys suggest a plurality of Catholics live).”

 

[Sr_Sally]

Do you know if any of these new immigrants are entering the seminaries?

No idea, but I would imagine that even in the population of legal immegrants, the education level of men of the right age may not be high enough to get into seminary. We should continue to pray and support education for young hispanic boys (for ALL boys) so that they are prepared for seminary if the discern the priesthood to be their calling. I believe there is a priest shortage in Latin America as well anyway.

 

[cecilia97]

No idea, but I would imagine that even in the population of legal immegrants, the education level of men of the right age may not be high enough to get into seminary. We should continue to pray and support education for young hispanic boys (for ALL boys) so that they are prepared for seminary if the discern the priesthood to be their calling. I believe there is a priest shortage in Latin America as well anyway.

Here are the 36 seminarians in Galveston-Houston’s 2007 class.

diogh.org/VocationOffice/seminarians.htm

Many Hispanic names and Vietnamese names, as is usual for us, but you never can tell if that means they’re recent immigrants or have family going back generations in the US. I love our diocese…I wouldn’t agree with earlier posters that we’re having problems. I’ve been to Masses all over the country and I find the liturgies in Houston to be highly reverent, on the whole. We’re used to ministering to people from diverse backgrounds and we’re holding our own against the Joel Osteens of the world.

We’re not having a new influx of immigrants here. It’s just only recently become news that the rest of the country cares about. And unfortunately, lots of the immigrants coming from Central and South America are not Catholic these days.

 

[Bob_Byrnes]

Did you see this the Ratio of Adherents per Priest:

Boston (MA): One Priest for every 8,912 Catholics
Ft. Worth (TX) 10,000
Galveston–Houston (TX) 10,170
Orange (CA) 10,776
Los Angeles (CA) 12,675
El Paso (TX) 13,388
San Bernardino (CA) 13,987
Dallas (TX) 14,049
Brownsville (TX) 15,993
Las Vegas (NV) 19,998

No wonder they have problems in those dioceses. Without Priests, there are no sacraments. Without Sacraments, there is a void of Grace. Without abundant grace, there is sin.