Which is why we must stay close to the Church. It is the only safe way through the storm. Thought the hull may be battered, inside it’s safe and dry. **… Great! Stmaria posted a docuement showing how the ratio of priests to faithful has increased. **The same document, from 2003, listed the percentage increases everywhere but Europe which had a a stable number of Catholics. That year there were 15,000,000 new Catholics brought into the Church. I have no problems looking at the fruits of the Church. Not just the numbers of faithful who have joined but the work of charity, being the largest charity organization in the world. I am sure not worried about the few abberations that sedevacantist love to harp on and even lie about.
No, what I posted shows that the Church is in a state of crises.
SYNOD OF BISHOPS
XI ORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY October 2005
vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_doc_20050707_instrlabor-xi-assembly_en.html
, from 1978 to 2003, in the number of Catholics in relation to the number of priests, that is, one priest for every 1,797 Catholics in 1978 to one priest for every 2,677 Catholics in 2003. The situation is quite diverse from continent to continent. For example, in Europe, there is one priest for every 1,386 Catholics; in Africa, one for every 4,723 Catholics; in America, one for every 4,453; in Asia, one for every 2,407; and in Oceania, one for every 1,746.7 In the same period, the permanent deaconate also witnessed a strong development with the overall number of deacons multiplying over 15 times or having a relative increase of 466.7%.
…in the majority of countries in Europe, America and Oceania. In some cases, the percentage of those who participate at Sunday Mass is as** low as 5%**. 7.….In many countries, persons have lost, or are gradually losing, an awareness that conversion is necessary for receiving the Eucharist. Its connection with the Sacrament of Penance is not always understood, e.g., the necessity of being in the state of grace before receiving Holy Communion. As a result, the obligation of confessing mortal sins is forgotten…Certainly, thought needs to be given to the great disproportion between the many who receive Holy Communion and the few who go to confession. The faithful frequently receive Holy Communion, without even thinking that they might be
in the state of mortal sin… responses coming from various countries note some deficiencies and shadows in the celebration of the Eucharist on the part of both the clergy and the faithful, which seem to have their origin in a weakened sense of the sacred in the Sacrament
Certain actions which challenge a sense of the sacred, often mentioned in the Lineamenta responses, can be of assistance in treating the subject, for example, a neglect by the celebrant and the ministers to use proper liturgical vestments and the participants’ lack of befitting dress for Mass; the use of profane music in Church; the tacit consent to eliminate certain liturgical gestures thought to be too traditional, such as genuflexion before the Blessed Sacrament; an inadequate catechesis for Communion in the hand and its improper distribution; a lack of reverence before, during and after the celebration of Holy Mass, . a certain way of acting indicates that transubstantiation and the Real Presence are understood in a
symbolic sense only. Many responses noted that some celebrants at the liturgy seem more like showmen, who must draw people’s attention to themselves, instead of servants of Christ, called to conduct the faithful to union with him….It is worth considering whether the removal of the tabernacle from the centre of the sanctuary to an obscure, undignified corner or to a separate chapel, or whether to have placed the celebrant’s chair in the centre of the sanctuary or in front of the tabernacle—as was done in many renovations of older churches and in new constructions—has contributed in some way to a
decrease in faith in the Real Presence.”
Most of it is a verbatim recycling of Maria Monks book. If you read the posters expose of pre-Vatican II convent life you will see the similarity.