Number of Catholics growing throughout the world

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I can’t remember if it was Luther or Kierkegaard who once said something to the effect of “you are lucky to find 2 or 3 Christians anywhere on the earth at any given time.” I love it. Not saying I believe it, but it is a good tonic - and could be closer to the truth than you think…😃
 
ProVobis said:
Actually there has been a steady decline in infant baptisms, both U.S. and worldwide.

That and other pertinent data:

cara.georgetown.edu/caraservices/requestedchurchstats.html
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Yes, but the increase in Catholics reported is still primarily due to the infant baptisms that did happen. The fact that fewer babies are being baptized explains why the Catholic population as a percentage of the global population had decreased. The overall Catholic population is still growing but at a slower rate due to fewer babies being baptized.
 
They should adjust those numbers by the number of apostates. It would probably be frightening.
 
LisaA said:
Of course it would be interesting and I hope encouraging to see how many faithful practicing Catholics are out there and if their numbers are increasing. But that being said, do you have any reason to believe the percentage of lapsed, non practicing, or anti Catholics has changed? If anything this has gone DOWN as in the past people were more likely to be “cultural Catholics” who didn’t participate but culture and norms promoted church membership and identification so they went along. Now, again as part of the RCIA team, I see people choosing Catholicism as adults and if my experience is the norm, these are the people who remain faithful practicing Catholics in higher numbers than what I call hit and run Catholics who appear to have their baby baptized and then we never see them again. Given that the percentage of non practicing Catholics has not gone up, wouldn’t we suspect then that more new Catholics (remember not all are baptized as babies, many are not) there would be more practicing Catholics simply by reason of the increased numbers?

Certainly vocations are up, at least in this area vis a vis twenty years ago. Many of our parishes are overflowing and our parish was added to the Archdiocese to take on this increase. I find the news encouraging.
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The amount of non practicing catholic/lapsed catholics has increased big time. Those “cultural” catholics of the past who went to church and were immersed in catholic holidays and traditions are really quickly getting replaced by the people who just sit at home and do nothing. I think church attendance numbers can back that up,

I don’t doubt the religiosity of adults who personally take the cause to become catholics but we aren’t Jehovas or even Mormons, thats a tiny amount of people who don’t make up for the losses on other fronts.

Vocations are up in Africa and slightly in Asia which is a good sign and I like the leadership of African Bishops however they are down everywhere else. I’m particularly worried about places like France which has an abysmal <100 new priests a year for a country of over 50 mil with apparently at least 15 percent of the population still going to mass. How much longer can importing priests hold out in that country?
 
boar2roar said:
The amount of non practicing catholic/lapsed catholics has increased big time. Those “cultural” catholics of the past who went to church and were immersed in catholic holidays and traditions are really quickly getting replaced by the people who just sit at home and do nothing. I think church attendance numbers can back that up,

I don’t doubt the religiosity of adults who personally take the cause to become catholics but we aren’t Jehovas or even Mormons, thats a tiny amount of people who don’t make up for the losses on other fronts.

Vocations are up in Africa and slightly in Asia which is a good sign and I like the leadership of African Bishops however they are down everywhere else. I’m particularly worried about places like France which has an abysmal <100 new priests a year for a country of over 50 mil with apparently at least 15 percent of the population still going to mass. How much longer can importing priests hold out in that country?
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In all fairness I think there was a strong downward shift but things are more stable now. There are more efforts to evangelization and with social media, the internet, and websites we really have no excuse not to participate. Actually the number of mainline Protestants, as a percentage, has declined in far greater numbers than lost sheep from the Catholic fold.

It’s up to us the “faithful remnant” to re-engage and evangelize.
 
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