There are 2,942 Catholic Denominations, Maybe more

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the 2942 number comes from listing the RCC in each country, the Eastern Catholic Churches, the Othodox jurisdicitions, and a number of folks who have a website or stationary in their homegrown “Catholic Church” that NO ONE would consider Catholic, let alone a church…

His Eminence The Metropolitan/Archbishop Dr. Chief Alexander Swift Eagle Justice, Metropolitan/Archbishop and Member of the Imperial Holy Orthodox Synod of the Holy Orthodox Church of All Russia and Appointed Chief Patriarch for United States of America - California, Mexico and for ALL Latin American Countries, Metropolitan/Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Native Americans and President of the College of Bishops of the Mexican National Catholic Church , Metropolitan/Archbishop of the Holy Orthodox Native American Catholic Archdiocese and Chief Patriarch of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Holy Orthodox Native American Catholic Church AND Bishop of The National Pentecostal Overcoming Churches of the World Inc. comes to mind.

Under the methodology used in the study, HE would count as “a Catholic Church”. If Metropolitan/Archbishop Dr. Chief Alexander Swift Eagle Justice has any followers at all, I doubt they would take up more room than a short bus that could take them to a hospital where they could be treated for their delusion of grandeur.
Check out the link you’ll see what I mean.
 
Noting on his website that he was made a “prince of the Russian Royal family” in 2004, I suppose “Prince Metropolitan Archbishop Doctor…” should be in the full title.
Um - wasn’t the Russian Royal Family wiped out to the last child by the Bolsheviks in 1918? :confused:

Also, don’t you have to be born a prince?
 
Um - wasn’t the Russian Royal Family wiped out to the last child by the Bolsheviks in 1918? :confused:

Also, don’t you have to be born a prince?
tongue in cheek, jmcrae, tongue in cheek!

Apparently, this fella can make things happen!
 
Actually, I think that the number of Protestant denominations is a lot higher than 30,000.

Since Protestants each interpret the Bible in their own way with no outside authority other than their own personal authority, there are as many Protestant denominations as there are Protestants.
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MAYBE there are 1.5 billion Catholic Denominations, (one for each person.)

Once a man was shipwrecked on a desert island.
He was stranded there for ten years.
Finally, rescue came and the Captain of the rescuing ship walked on the beach.
He spotted three huts, and saw the man leaning against the wall of one of the huts.
The Captain said to the man “well it’s time to go, call the others and lets get out of here.”
The man said to the Captain, “What other people? I’m the only one here.
The Captain said,” What about those three huts?"
" Oh, those, One is where I live, the other one is where I go to Church."
The Captain said,“What about the third one?”
The man looked at the Captain and said," I used to go to that Church, But I didn’t like the way the Preacher ran his services ! " :banghead: :rotfl:
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by itsjustdave1988 forums.catholic-questions.org/images/buttons_cak/viewpost.gif
I still don’t see where the source describes “2,942 Catholic denominations.”

Quote:
Originally Posted by ASimpleSinner forums.catholic-questions.org/images/buttons_cak/viewpost.gif
the 2942 number comes from listing the RCC in each country, the Eastern Catholic Churches, the Othodox jurisdicitions, and a number of folks who have a website or stationary in their homegrown “Catholic Church” that NO ONE would consider Catholic, let alone a church…
Under the methodology used in the study, HE would count as “a Catholic Church”. …
But HE doesn’t, under his methodology, name 2942 denominations. He does, under his methodolgy, name 242 Roman Catholic denominations, which DO include all the Latin Rite and Eastern Rite Catholics Churches.

The number more likely is lifted from Eric Svendsons poorly constructed article here, which has absolutely nothing to do with what Barrett, et. al. actually state in their Encyclopedia., nor is it based upon the Encyclopedia’s methodology. Barrett VERY CLEARLY defines “denomination” as I’ve shown from his text above, and he explains what it means “as a statistical unit” in his Encyclopedia. Given this precise definition, he DOES NOT claim “2,942 Catholic denominations” as the OP (and Svendson) claim.

As I’ve shown by quoting the Encyclopedia, Barrett states that there are 242 Roman Catholic denominations. In none of his tables does he total “2,942 Catholic denominations.” Svenson was simply suffering from a lack of scholastic rigor or a lack of scholastic integrity.
 
the 9 could be a typo?
You have a good heart. 😉 Let’s see if it was just a typo…

Eric Svendsen “derives” the number from his poorly constructed argument…
ntrmin.org/30000denominations.htm
First, Barrett, writing in 1982, does indeed cite a figure of 20,780 denominations in 1980, and projects that there would be as many as 22,190 denominations by 1985. This represents an increase of approximately 270 new denominations each year (Barrett, 17). …

Barrett identifies seven major ecclesiastical “blocs” under which these 22,190 distinct denominations fall (Barrett, 14-15): (1) Roman Catholicism, which accounts for 223 denominations; (2) Protestant, which accounts for 8,196 denominations; (3) Orthodox, which accounts for 580 denominations; (4) Non-White Indigenous, which accounts for 10,956 denominations; (5) Anglican, which accounts for 240 denominations; (6) Marginal Protestant, which includes Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, New Age groups, and all cults (Barrett, 14), and which accounts for 1,490 denominations; and (7) Catholic (Non-Roman), which accounts for 504 denominations.

…the typical Roman Catholic projection of an annual increase in this number is simply not a given. …

No doubt the same Roman Catholic apologists who so gleefully cite the erroneous 25,000-denominations figure…would reel at the notion that there might actually be 223 distinct denominations within Roman Catholicism!
MY NOTE: I don’t, given that he clearly explains this definition in his Encyclopedia]…

… Barrett indicates in the case of Roman Catholicism that even this number can be broken down further to produce 2,942 separate “denominations”—and that was only in 1970!
Svendsen does not cite the page reference where Barrett “indicates” this, and it appears the OP simply lifted Svendsen’s assertion uncritically, attributing it to Barrett. Given what Barrett clearly states in his 2nd edition, I doubt very much Barrett indicated any such thing in his first edition. However, I still await the page reference from the first edition where Barrett “indicates” what Svenson claims he “inidicates.”

Svendsen continues…
If we were to use the Roman Catholic apologist’s method to “project” a figure for the current day, we could no doubt postulate a number upwards of 8,000 Roman Catholic denominations today!
Unfortunately, the 2nd edition of Barrett’s Encyclopedia does not support Svendsens agument. Svendsen presumed that the increase in total Christian denominations was attributable to Roman Catholic denominations just as much as it was to Protestant denominations. He was wrong, according to the 2nd edition of this Encyclopedia, which must have been rather embarrassing for him.

Instead Barrett’s Encyclopedia does indeed describe an increase of Roman Catholic denominations since 1970 as follows…

Roman Catholic denominations:
1970: 238
1995: 240
2000: 242

Yet, the total number of Christian denominations increased as follows:
1970: 16,075
1995: 33,090
2000: 33,909

As stated, this HUGE increase in denominations comes from the shrinking of the number of adherents of “Protestant” and “Anglican” megabloc denominations, and the creation of tens of thousands of “Independent” or non-denominational denominations who still profess distinctively PROTESTANT doctrines.

From the 2001 World Christian Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., by Barrett, Kurian, Johnson, Vol. 1, page. 27:denomination: any agency consisting of a number of congregations or churches voluntarily aligning themselves with it. As a statistical unit in this Encyclopedia, a "denomination’ always refers to one single country. Thus, **the Roman Catholic Church, although a single organization, is described here as consisting of 236 denominations in the world’s 238 countries.**Given the above definition, I agree with Barrett’s numbers regarding 242 Roman Catholic denominations (in a single organization).

Yet, for anyone who actually bothers to look at Barrett’s text, it is clear that the explosion in denominations described by Barrett’s Encyclopedia [16,075 in 1970, 33,909 in 2000; *11+ new denomination per week] is caused by huge increases in those “Independent” denominations who profess distinctively Protestant doctrines, while the Roman Catholic Church is still described as a single organization, consisting in 242 denominations in the worlds 238 counties.
 
So, your saying that the OP was citing Eric the Loser instead of Barrett the Confused?
 
all this talk about denominations is making my head swim:banghead: :hmmm: :coffeeread: :hypno:
 
Twenty-seven Baptist denominations reported an approximate membership of 32 million in 1994; there are about 100,000 local Baptist churches [in the US], each independent of the others.
The Baptists claim that denominations and independent churches are two distinct categories. That doesn’t make sense. If a church is independent from other churches, then it is a denomination.

So, we have 100,000 Baptist denominations. And many more Protestant groups to assess.
The term “Protestant” itself tells us volumes about the origin of this particular group of churches. They originated in protest, which means something had to pre-exist for them to protest against. That something is, of course, the Catholic Church.
turrisfortis.com/trail.html
 
:newidea: Why don’t all the Catholics say every possible thing they can think of to be sure the Protestants NEVER listen to them about anything ever again?

Oh Wait! :doh2: You’re already doing that… sorry. Carry on.

:yawn: I’m going back to sleep.
 
Syele said:
:newidea: Why don’t all the Catholics say every possible thing they can think of to be sure the Protestants NEVER listen to them about anything ever again?

Oh! Were you listening to us in the first place? :confused:

Protestants who are not particularly interested in discussion but only in converting us are not likely to listen to what Catholics have to say even on a Catholic forum. Such Protestants have free will to choose where they will go and what they will believe.
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Syele:
Oh Wait! :doh2: You’re already doing that… sorry. Carry on.
I see that you have conceded your argument. Nothing substantive to add. Mind you that happened on page one, but sometimes it takes a while for things to sink in. I think that’s very human.

🤷

Syele said:
:yawn: I’m going back to sleep.

Nighty noodles. Enjoy your smiley. :tiphat:
 
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