Are there really 1.1 billion Catholics?

[christianley]

How have they determined there are 1.1 billion Catholics? Do paraishes all report to a central authority that allows that number to be stated? How do they count who is Catholic and who isn’t? Does that include the millions of Catholics who have left and gone to the Evangelicals or some other non-Catholic sect?

If a Catholic doesn’t report to the parish they left are they counted for decades and decades even though they never show up and may have moved from the area? Do local Catholic parishes clean up their records and remove those they can’t find? Are they still counted as Catholic somewhere?

 

[NotWorthy]

Parishes do not remove parishioners from the roles until they ask to be removed or they die. As you can imagine there are quite a few that would remain for years even after they’ve left the church.

Does this make the 1.1 billion number valid? It’s probably as accurate as they can get it, though. Our church has a finite number of parishioners and a finite number of active parishioners. I’m not sure which one is reported, though.

 

[scylla]

There are probably about 1.1 billion people who call themselves Catholic. Now we need to evangelize them as many of them just call themselves “Catholic” and don’t know what they are missing out on.
Catholicism is not called the sleeping giant for nothing, we need to wake it up and it will be a beautiful thing. You should have seen how many Catholics we had the weekend after Sept 11th. My Church was full of “Catholics”. Each week afterward it became more empty to eventually back to the normal amount of people. We really dropped the ball by not taking that chance to help these people embrace the beauty of the Catholic Church.

God Bless
Scylla

 

[Ignatius]

Actually it’s probably a lot more accurate than many of the Evangelicals. They have these crusades at sports stadiums and they count everyone who comes up to be “saved”. The next year they have the same thing and many of the same people come forward to be saved again. These churches report phenomenal growth.

 

[1ke]

How have they determined there are 1.1 billion Catholics?

Via Sacramental record.

Do paraishes all report to a central authority that allows that number to be stated?

Yes. Parishes report to the diocese, and the diocese in turn reports to Rome.

How do they count who is Catholic and who isn’t?

Baptismal records and parish registration.

Does that include the millions of Catholics who have left and gone to the Evangelicals or some other non-Catholic sect?

It might. However, unless they have left the church by a formal act or been excommunicated under Church Law they are still a Catholic by virtue of their baptism or profession of faith.

If a Catholic doesn’t report to the parish they left are they counted for decades and decades even though they never show up and may have moved from the area?

Possibly, this would vary substantially from place to place. Our parish updates its records quite regularly.

Do local Catholic parishes clean up their records and remove those they can’t find?

Typically, yes.

Are they still counted as Catholic somewhere?

They might be. Remember, a person is a Catholic by virtue of the Sacrament of Baptism (or by profession of faith and Confirmation if a convert). Therefore, if a person does not go to church they are still a Catholic. Only by a formal act of apostacy or excommunication can they be considered “not” Catholic. Look at Canon Law for more details.