There are 2,942 Catholic Denominations, Maybe more

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obadiah said:
Are they in communion with each other?😛
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That really can’t be the test, can it? Most Protestant denominations have open communion and, therefore, are in communion with each other. Yet they are separate denominations.
 
obadiah said:
That’s really wild. So I guess he means, the American RCC, the Canadian RCC, African RCC, as different denominations of Roman Catholic Churches.
Are they in communion with each other?😛
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Elswhere (pg. 27, Vol. 1), the authors make clear that "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."

They don’t seem to imply that the Roman Catholic Church of every country are not in communion with one another.

Within the Roman Catholic “denomination” there is only ONE authocephalous Church, and that is the universal Church.

My understanding of Othodox/Oriental Churches is that there are many autocephalous Churches. Where that is I think varies depending upon who you ask. The country level? Metorpolitan? Bishop?

It seems to me Protestants have the most variant views amongst them regarding their doctrines of ecclesiology, most of which assert that each local parish is a law unto itself, which seems to indicate each parish is autocephalous, although I’ve met many Protestants who claim they are not governed by their local parish, but are ‘autocephalous’ as individuals, so to speak.
 
rr1213 said:
That really can’t be the test, can it? Most Protestant denominations have open communion and, therefore, are in communion with each other. Yet they are separate denominations.
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I think this pertains to a large difference regarding our ecclesiology among the Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestants. Catholics and Orthodox seem to believe ecclesiology is among the essentials of the faith, part of apostlic tradition that have at least some elements that are therefore immutable. Protestants seem to be increasining unconcerned about ecclesiology since the advent of the Protestant Reformation, thus they have “communion” (Gk koinonia) with anybody.

This, I think, is precisely the point Barrett, et. al. were trying to highlight in their World Christian Encyclopedia. If you look at their Global Diagram 5 on pg. 10 of Vol. 1, they appear to be showing a trend since the 1900s which they call the “rise of Renewal.” The major megablocs of Christianity they diagram are

Orthodox (O)
Roman Catholic (R)
Anglican (A)
Protestant (P)
Independent (I)
Marginal (M)

They diagram the respective percentage of adherents in these megablocs from 1900 to 2000, projecting out to 2025 based upon current trends.

From 1900 to 2000, their diagram shows that while O, R, and M remain the same size (as a percentage of all Christians), A and P are significantly shrinking while I is significantly growing.

It seems they are pointing out with statistics that which we all can see in our own hometown, the traditional denominations of Protestantism are shrinking as a percentage of Christians, while the “Independents” or non-denominational Churches are popping up like crazy.

What do these ever-increasing number of non-denominational Churches believe as “essential” doctrines of Christianity? It seems to me they are Protestants by another name, as they believe in the distinctively Protestant 66-book Bible, the distinctively Protestant “Faith alone” soteriology, and the distinctively Protestant “Bible alone” epistemology.

If the trend continues, A and P will go away, and I will replace them, leaving three major megablocs of Christanity: Catholic, Orthodox, and Independent (aka Protestant)…oh, and a tiny sliver off to the side called “Marginal” (Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christadelphian, Universalist/Unitarian, etc.)
 
After reading the above post, it left the mistaken impression that “the rise of renewal” according to Barrett, et. al. is that “A” and “P” are shrinking and “I” is increasing. While I think that may be part of Barrett’s conclusion in the diagram, the “Renewal” he refers to is the Charismatic Renewal which he shows rising among all the major megablocs of Christianity, chiefly among the “Independents.”
 
kellie said:
I agree there could be 30,000 Protestant denominations.

If a church, e.g the one that is around the corner from me here in Melbourne, is simply called the Melbourne Christian Church, but has the exact same beliefs as the Anglican church around the other corner, then they are quite clearly 2 seperate denominations of Protestantism.

They do not share the same magisterium, leader, or other title for the head of a church.

Whereas the Catholic Church in Melbourne, led by Archbishop Denis Hart, isn’t another denomination of the Catholic Church as we under the Rite of Rome, with the Pope as leader.
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Who cares if there are 29 999 protestant denominations or 30001 denominations…!!! The fact is that they generally do not see a need for a magisterium , and therefore often actively encourage the establishment of new churches wherever and whenever possible. Apparantly this is referred to as ‘church planting’ and any soul who ‘has a calling’ is deemed qualified to be pastor ?! I would rather attend a church that has been around [warts and all] for 2007 years and is led by learned folk.🙂
 
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 church!":banghead: :rotfl:
 
Definitions, Definitions, Definitions?

Comparisons between denominational churches must be approached with caution?

For example, in some churches, congregations are part of a larger church organization, while in other groups, each congregation is an independent autonomous organization. This issue is further complicated by the existence of groups of congregations with a common heritage that are officially nondenominational and have no centralized authority or records, but which are identified as denominations by non-adherents. Study of such churches in denominational terms is therefore a more complex proposition.
 
DDD?

The noun denomination has 3 meanings:
Meaning #1: a group of religious congregations having its own organization and a distinctive faith

Meaning #2: a class of one kind of unit in a system of numbers or measures or weights or money

Meaning #3: identifying word or words by which someone or something is called and classified or distinguished from others

Synonyms: appellation, designation, appellative
 
Or should I just use the Latin definition since it came from the Latin language in the first place and use it in the most strictest sense?

From Latin denominatus, “named”
 
itsjustdave1988 said:
I still don’t see where the source describes “2,942 Catholic denominations.”
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ASimpleSinner said:
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.
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Addittionally I have seen some folks - not understanding the concept or ecclesiology of religous orders list the Jesuits, Franciscans, Benedictines, etc as “churches.”

To achieve these numbers of “Catholic Churches” all national hierarchies, sui juris Catholic Churches and self-identified Eastern Orthodox and groups claiming “Catholic” or “Orthodox” in their name must be counted.

And I think therein lies a key difference in the counting.
 
jmcrae said:
:confused: How do you get that?
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Each non-demoninational is a “named” entity with a detailed interpretation which is unique from other non-denominationals.

Let’s say that for every denominational church that exists, there is one record for each one in a large table(database). Each record has 32011 fields dedicated to each verse(32011)(protestant bibles of course) in the Bible. Each field contains the interpretation of each verse. And let’s say there are 2 million records representing 2 million exact churches. And the interpretation is limited to only one word with choicess of
  1. Literal
  2. Metaphorical
  3. Figurative
  4. allegorical
  5. Symbolic
  6. Rhetorical
  7. Hyperbolic
    etc
Now if I do an SQL search:

SELECT DISTINCT ALL FROM table

I would expect to get way over a million records.
 
JoeyWarren said:
Each non-demoninational is a “named” entity with a detailed interpretation which is unique from other non-denominationals.
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Also consider the fact that the majority of non-denominational churches are located in the southern United States, and I think your numbers will go down considerably.
Let’s say that for every denominational church that exists, there is one record for each one in a large table(database). Each record has 32011 fields dedicated to each verse(32011)(protestant bibles of course) in the Bible. Each field contains the interpretation of each verse. And let’s say there are 2 million records representing 2 million exact churches. And the interpretation is limited to only one word with choicess of
  1. Literal
  2. Metaphorical
  3. Figurative
  4. allegorical
  5. Symbolic
  6. Rhetorical
  7. Hyperbolic
    etc
Now if I do an SQL search:

SELECT DISTINCT ALL FROM table

I would expect to get way over a million records.
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This is just plain silliness, I think - I can’t see how something like this contributes anything useful to the discussion - apart from being vaguely humorous, I suppose. :rolleyes: 😉
 
I just checked out that guy’s website, he’s into everything.He must have gone loony tunes.
 
I just checked out that guy’s website, he’s into everything.He must have gone loony tunes.
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That is uncharitable and uncalled for. Anyone who contributes to these forum are entitled to express their views without fear of being ridiculed. Whether or not I agree with him, I defend his right to his view 🙂
 
Sixtus said:
That is uncharitable and uncalled for. Anyone who contributes to these forum are entitled to express their views without fear of being ridiculed. Whether or not I agree with him, I defend his right to his view 🙂
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I wasn’t talking about the one who posted the message, I was talking about the fake metropolatin who got his ordination from a fake catholic church, and a fake orthodox church.
 
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