Is Catholicism Dying?

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From an outsider standpoint, I think we can expect to see the Catholic church do better in retaining members and expanding in the next few decades.

For two reasons:

A heightened involvement of Catholic laity - gone are the days when Catholics just attended Mass. Catholics are called now to get out in their community and gather more people to God.

Better catechesis - with the new emphasis on training the Laity, catholics are now not only learning to become better Catholics. Catholics are better able to refute secular claims in addition to refuting some of the more egregious “Protestant” claims.
 
jsaldar said:
I live in the U.S. It seems like out of all of the people I know, only 20% or so believe in Christ. Out of those 20% only 5% are Roman Catholic. The rest are from other Christian denominations but used to be Roman Catholic a few years ago. The other 80% are atheist.

This is very sad. Also, the media doesn’t help showing all the negative aspects of the Church, such as pedophile priests and more. There was a report last night about a priest stealing valuable things from a store, and caught on surveillance camera.

How do you all feel about this? Is this just in my head, or are we Roman Catholics becoming scarce?
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Of course it isn’t - if it was, that would make Jesus a liar.
 
I’ve often wondered about this: Jesus says, “No one is greater than his master.” Jesus died.

We are “THE BODY OF CHRIST”. Is it possible that we also on a whole could die with Christ? That maybe it could come to a point that all Christians either lose faith or are killed off? Jesus did say, “When I return will there be any faith at all?”

He said that the gates of hell would not prevail against us but He didn’t say we might not die, just like Him. For He says that if we die with Him we will also rise with Him. Do you think it could be possible that the Church could die but be raised again, just like Christ?..or will she like Mary be assumed into heaven? Mary was sinless, but we are not.

Bishop Sheen wrote a bit about this in the last chapter of the “Life of Christ.”
 
DaddyGirl said:
Listen, you cannot blame the media. I’m a member of the media and it’s our job to report whatever news happens, whether it happens in the Catholic church or in other churches. No editor says to us: “Oh, it’s the Catholic church…let’s get them!”.
The hard truth is…if these priests that you mention, above, did not get into these situations, *there would be no newspaper stories about them. *
If they are caught on a surveillance camera stealing, that is their own doing.
If they are innocent, then that will be reported as well.
The media doesn’t care either way, it just needs to fill space and air time and follows what happens. There is no conspiracy. There is no persecution. I promise you. We just report what happens and what is most dramatic.
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I disagree.
google the following:
mission to prey rte

its the tragic story of an innocent priest accused of terrible things. The truth came out in the end though, and he was cleared. This caused an earthquake in irish media.
 
jsaldar said:
I live in the U.S. It seems like out of all of the people I know, only 20% or so believe in Christ. Out of those 20% only 5% are Roman Catholic. The rest are from other Christian denominations but used to be Roman Catholic a few years ago. The other 80% are atheist.

This is very sad. Also, the media doesn’t help showing all the negative aspects of the Church, such as pedophile priests and more. There was a report last night about a priest stealing valuable things from a store, and caught on surveillance camera.

How do you all feel about this? Is this just in my head, or are we Roman Catholics becoming scarce?
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Where did you get your statistics from. More than 70% of the US population believes in Christ.
 
mangy_dog said:
The only useful piece of information I’ve read here is: " the media doesn’t care either way"
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Yes, they do. They care about MONEY $$$$$. They calculate which side of an argument will sell more articles and air time and get them more influence, and that’s the one they go with. The media is a business. And we buy their products. Buyer beware.
 
thistle said:
Where did you get your statistics from. More than 70% of the US population believes in Christ.
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In no way does this casual assumption mean that the country is overwhelmingly Christian or, even more erroneously, overwhelmingly Catholic.

The previous commenter’s numbers are even farther off though. Where do people get these wacky wrong numbers?

The country is about 22% Catholic on the books. It’s less than 10% Catholic on the street, however, as you can see if you really read the articles on the Pew Report website.

The second largest religious group in the USA is ex-Catholic. It’s 10.1% of the entire population of the United States. To say we’re doing poorly is an understatement. Perhaps Catholics ought to pay more attention to facts.
 
iloveangels said:
In no way does this casual assumption mean that the country is overwhelmingly Christian or, even more erroneously, overwhelmingly Catholic.

The previous commenter’s numbers are even farther off though. Where do people get these wacky wrong numbers?

The country is about 22% Catholic on the books. It’s less than 10% Catholic on the street, however, as you can see if you really read the articles on the Pew Report website.

The second largest religious group in the USA is ex-Catholic. It’s 10.1% of the entire population of the United States. To say we’re doing poorly is an understatement. Perhaps Catholics ought to pay more attention to facts.
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The OP stated that only 20% of the US population believes in Christ and that 80% are atheist. These figures are nonsense. That’s what I was rebutting.
Also to say Catholicism is on the decline is also wrong. It is increasing, especially through the increasing numbers of immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries (whether legally or illegally).
 
Kit15 said:
Keep in mind that you maaaay know more Catholics than you think. Devout ones even. We’re kinda notorious for not wearing it blatantly on our sleeve. :o
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A very valid point to mention. This is something we should all change. If we follow the Church’s guidance we can live our faith boldly without living it arrogantly. It’s a mighty fine line to walk but for the sake of souls everywhere, including our own, I feel we all should try our best to walk it.
 
thistle said:
So my more than 70% is correct.
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It doesn’t say anything about the topic though. It doesn’t say anything about anything that’s being talked about here.

Besides, if you’re in the Phillipines, your data there is going to be different. Different culture. Different set of circumstances about Protestant groups and all that.
 
thistle said:
The OP stated that only 20% of the US population believes in Christ and that 80% are atheist. These figures are nonsense. That’s what I was rebutting.
Also to say Catholicism is on the decline is also wrong. It is increasing, especially through the increasing numbers of immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries (whether legally or illegally).
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About increasing: That’s actually not true. What’s happening is very regional. In the West, it’s true that there are a lot of Hispanics coming from Latin America and obscuring the fact that others are leaving. But in the Midwest & East, parishes are emptying out and it’s happening fast. Overall, if you average the whole country together, the situation is about even for now.

Nevertheless, it’s a giant purge. 10.1% of the American population are ex-Catholic now. A great many people are leaving.

Pew Report paper on this exact topic: pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/faithinflux_3.pdf
 
iloveangels said:
About increasing: That’s actually not true. What’s happening is very regional. In the West, it’s true that there are a lot of Hispanics coming from Latin America and obscuring the fact that others are leaving. But in the Midwest & East, parishes are emptying out and it’s happening fast. Overall, if you average the whole country together, the situation is about even for now.

Nevertheless, it’s a giant purge. 10.1% of the American population are ex-Catholic now. A great many people are leaving.

Pew Report paper on this exact topic: pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/faithinflux_3.pdf
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Are the roughly 10 million illegal immigrants taken into account in the statistics?
 
thistle said:
Are the roughly 10 million illegal immigrants taken into account in the statistics?
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Yes. The Pew Report studies are quite recent and are updated on a regular basis.

And not all of the recent immigrants from Latin America are remaining Catholic. There are several factors contributing to this. Many charismatic “Holy Spirit” style churches are springing up among immigrants from Latin America since they tend to find existing North American parishes in some parts of the country foreign to their customs and habits as Latin American Catholics. Also, as is the usual case with some immigrants, a certain proportion of them drop all religious affiliation after entering the American cultural scene. As their cultural, economic and political circumstances change, their affiliations can and do often change.
 
Lady_Love said:
I’ve often wondered about this: Jesus says, “No one is greater than his master.” Jesus died.

We are “THE BODY OF CHRIST”. Is it possible that we also on a whole could die with Christ? That maybe it could come to a point that all Christians either lose faith or are killed off? Jesus did say, “When I return will there be any faith at all?”

He said that the gates of hell would not prevail against us but He didn’t say we might not die, just like Him. For He says that if we die with Him we will also rise with Him. Do you think it could be possible that the Church could die but be raised again, just like Christ?..or will she like Mary be assumed into heaven? Mary was sinless, but we are not.

Bishop Sheen wrote a bit about this in the last chapter of the “Life of Christ.”
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I find this idea interesting.
 
thistle said:
Where did you get your statistics from. More than 70% of the US population believes in Christ.
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I think his statistics are referring to just the people he knows personally, hence the
its seems like out of all the people I know, only 20% or so believe in Christ…
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DaddyGirl said:
But a good reporter is always willing to hear the truth–the HUMAN truth.
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There can’t be very many good reporters, then.

The media now exists to make money.

I will whole-heartedly believe the media is there for simple and altruistic purposes when pigs fly outta my ears and establish a base on the moon.
 
Lochias said:
There can’t be very many good reporters, then.

The media now exists to make money.

I will whole-heartedly believe the media is there for simple and altruistic purposes when pigs fly outta my ears and establish a base on the moon.
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Agree.
 
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