Why is the South So Hostile to Catholicism?

[GeorgeSword]

The bottom line is that they simply do not know what we believe. When my wife told me that we were declared witches, I popped out laughing. We have bikers, drug addicts (of all sorts), chronically poor people all around and my neighbor feels it is his bounded duty to travel to Lithuania and Estonia every year for a mission.

Guess you’re going to the stake, then.
:sad_bye:

 

[txsippian]

Bubba, the South is very supportive of Catholicism, especially these days. You might find a Protestant Pastor or two who would gig us but just about everyone you’ll meet will respect the Church at some level.

Oh, do you know were EWTN is located? In the Heart of Dixie. Think the Holy Spirit guided Sr. Angelica to that spot by happen chance?

Also, did you see the Gallop Poll from earlier this year about Religion? Check this.

gallup.com/poll/114022/State-States-Importance-Religion.aspx

The Gallup Poll is interesting Data, thank you for posting it. Did the poll give any regional insight regarding where they asked these questions? A pretty small number of respondents in random areas can really lead to some skewed results.
How to affect the net result of the poll:
If each faithful Catholic will reach out to those in our own community (parishioners and NON-parishioners) in love these numbers will improve. If someone wants to become Catholic: Have Christ’s loving response “at the ready” to glorify the beauty of the Eucharist, all the Sacraments, and THE JOURNEY HOME WITH A LOVING COMMITTED COMMUNITY to THE Church that Christ commissioned us to gather in His holy name. It will only happen if I have a concrete plan of action in place.
Is it Faith or Works? One is impossible without the other.

 

[txsippian]

I just spent a week in Nashville, TN for a conference. There is no Catholic church in downtown Nashville. On the other hand, there is no Protestant church in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The Episcopalians are on the outskirts but that is as close as you get. From Pensacola over to Beaumont, Texas along the Gulf Coast we are either a majority or a very significant minority.

I grew up in a very Catholic New Orleans. I did not encounter any kind of hostility until I graduated from LSU for grad school and started my work career. Jimmy Swaggert was in his hay day before his fall and Jack Chick tracts abounded in my office. They promptly went into the trash. I’m fairly knowledgeable about my faith but in the late 80s the number of people flocking to Jimmy Swaggert in my office caused me to go out and buy Karl Keating’s Catholicism and Fundamentalism which I read and used to pretty good advantage.

Then we moved to our new home in the 90s - a community east of Baton Rouge which does not have a Catholic church. We were out in the country until our new neighbors built a house across the lane from us. He is the pastor of a big non-denominational church in our little town. To make a long story short, we had to stop our kids from playing with his kids. Votive candles (unblessed) make very good sources of light when the power goes off (which is frequently). OK, so they have decals of St. Michael, the BVM, St. Jude, St. Joseph, etc. (In my best Monty Python accent), my neighbor declared from the pulpit of his church that we were witches! My wife teaches at a local state university and was informed of this observation by students who attend the church.

The bottom line is that they simply do not know what we believe. When my wife told me that we were declared witches, I popped out laughing. We have bikers, drug addicts (of all sorts), chronically poor people all around and my neighbor feels it is his bounded duty to travel to Lithuania and Estonia every year for a mission.

I am happy to say that Holy Mother Church just bought over a hundred acres just to the northeast of me and plans are in the work to start a new parish.

Beloved, tell God about how much you love your neighbor. Bless his efforts in far off lands. Bring him to treat you and your family as Christ would. The Holy Spirit does not guide you to use words to bring everyone into the warmth of HIS light. Your kids do not have to play together with the preacher’s, but you must pray for the preacher and his family with your children. Our last two Popes have been harbingers of reconcilliation. We must all prayerfully follow their lead.

In answering the original title of this thread you hit the nail on the head demographically. All of the Coastal United States including ALL of the Mississippi River Valley from N.O. past Minn/StPaul is overflowing with beautiful abundant faithful Catholic Communities.
Metro areas have benefitted from the Exodus of Corporate America from the North to Southern Cities.
Many of my fellow parishioners speak VERY differently from my syrup-paced Vicksburg-Memphis vernacular. My life and my community would be so much less with-out them. The only thing we can do is teach them. There are NO LONG VOWELS in the word PECAN. PIcan like pig, pill, pit; and PiCAN like actor Jimmy Caan’s last name. Pecan , see how the Spiirit works my brother, one conversion at a time.
Faith starts at home, and this lesson has been accepted by my spouse :angel1:. My Amy said she was a “southern girl” and I took her at her word when we met on CatholicMatch. After much prayer I have come to peace with the fact that my beautiful loving and spiritual spouse is from South BEND, INDIANA!!!

 

[Denimguy]

We moved to NC a little over a year ago & I think here is not so “hostile” it’s more the fact that Catholics are regarded as a kind of novelty outside of urban areas. That being said, my first week at work here I found a Chick tract on my vehicle after work one day. I always wondered why I had started to study apologetics when I lived in Kansas City!!!

I had no idea that I would have so much opportunity to explain my faith & let people know the facts to some pretty wild ideas they held.
So much work, so little time

Peace

 

[distracted]

Why is the US South so hostile to Catholicism? In the area I live in, not particularly rural, and yet not quite a suburb either, there are at least 250 Protestant churches within 20 square miles… the King James Only anti-Catholic types make up roughly 80% of these. I know of three Episcopalian churches, one large Lutheran group and two Catholic parishes, one of which is fairly large…
Now, all of these churches seem to do alot of advertising, except for the Catholic ones… even one of the Episcopalian churches, based in someone’s house, puts out news paper ads. Not so with the Catholic churches. The only advertising they do is the sign in front of the church. The JWs and Mormons are fond of coming to everyone’s door about once a month, as are some of the Baptists. And yet the Catholics do nothing. One of the Baptist churches is practically a small city, with churches, support groups, a gym, youth groups, a park and pretty much everything you can imagine. The Catholic church is around the same size as this one, and yet the Baptist church puts out bill boards and any other type of ad you could imagine, attracting a large ammount of people…
So why don’t the Catholics do more advertising, and, as the title of this topic, why is Catholicism so small in the South? It seems most people are hostile to it, sadly.

no time to read all posts but read this one… I have often wondered about this myself…

Are we Catholics ashamed of being Catholic? Most are nt… but we are ashamed, apparently, of evangelizing and trying to make more Catholics…

i feel i have figured out why… We (4 one) get very tired of being argued against… and probably most of all MISUNDERSTOOD. i guess no one wants to be accused of such things as “re-sacrificing Christ” and worshipping statues…

but if we dont stand up for our faith… these myths will continue and grow and… mestastasize… like the cancer that it is…

gotta go but thanks for posting this…

 

[EMD]

Why is the US South so hostile to Catholicism? In the area I live in, not particularly rural, and yet not quite a suburb either, there are at least 250 Protestant churches within 20 square miles… the King James Only anti-Catholic types make up roughly 80% of these. I know of three Episcopalian churches, one large Lutheran group and two Catholic parishes, one of which is fairly large…
Now, all of these churches seem to do alot of advertising, except for the Catholic ones… even one of the Episcopalian churches, based in someone’s house, puts out news paper ads. Not so with the Catholic churches. The only advertising they do is the sign in front of the church. The JWs and Mormons are fond of coming to everyone’s door about once a month, as are some of the Baptists. And yet the Catholics do nothing. One of the Baptist churches is practically a small city, with churches, support groups, a gym, youth groups, a park and pretty much everything you can imagine. The Catholic church is around the same size as this one, and yet the Baptist church puts out bill boards and any other type of ad you could imagine, attracting a large ammount of people…
So why don’t the Catholics do more advertising, and, as the title of this topic, why is Catholicism so small in the South? It seems most people are hostile to it, sadly.

I know how you feel. I also live in the South and there are only 2 churches within decent driving distance. It’s hard to find any good Catholic social groups or anything for someone around my age.

When I was in high school (and even today it’s hard to find good Catholics) I only knew a few Catholics, everyone else seemed Baptist, Methodist, or Non-denominational. When I spoke with my non-Catholic friends and they found out I was Catholic, they would often ask questions, like “Why do you guys worship Mary and Saints” and the classic one “Are you saved?”

It seems that a lot have grown up around anti-Catholicism and are just ignorant about our faith, so they just don’t understand. It is frustrating though when someone asks me a question and I try to answer and I’m shot down because I must be lying :banghead:.

 

[PJM]

=Silvereel;5165392]Why is the US South so hostile to Catholicism? In the area I live in, not particularly rural, and yet not quite a suburb either, there are at least 250 Protestant churches within 20 square miles… the King James Only anti-Catholic types make up roughly 80% of these. I know of three Episcopalian churches, one large Lutheran group and two Catholic parishes, one of which is fairly large…
Now, all of these churches seem to do alot of advertising, except for the Catholic ones… even one of the Episcopalian churches, based in someone’s house, puts out news paper ads. Not so with the Catholic churches. The only advertising they do is the sign in front of the church. The JWs and Mormons are fond of coming to everyone’s door about once a month, as are some of the Baptists. And yet the Catholics do nothing. One of the Baptist churches is practically a small city, with churches, support groups, a gym, youth groups, a park and pretty much everything you can imagine. The Catholic church is around the same size as this one, and yet the Baptist church puts out bill boards and any other type of ad you could imagine, attracting a large ammount of people…
So why don’t the Catholics do more advertising, and, as the title of this topic, why is Catholicism so small in the South? It seems most people are hostile to it, sadly.

***Because Faith is a Direct gift from God, neither offered to everyone, nor offered with the same amount of grace. And yet sufficient grace for one to accept God’s Will is always
available.

Because there is BUT a single truth,on matters of Faith and or Morals, that single truth resides, as is God Will, in His Catholic Church.

There is inherent in all of humanity a desire to seek the truth. Most folks, even those reluctant to admit this, are at least vaguely aware that it is to be found in the CC. The misunderstandings, intentional and otherwise, can be discerned, if Wisdom is sought and prayerd for.

Many don’t know BECAUSE they simply don’t wish to know the truth, as it will require changes in life style and beliefs.***

Love and prayers,

Pat

 

[Lycorth]

no time to read all posts but read this one… I have often wondered about this myself…

Are we Catholics ashamed of being Catholic? Most are nt… but we are ashamed, apparently, of evangelizing and trying to make more Catholics…

i feel i have figured out why… We (4 one) get very tired of being argued against… and probably most of all MISUNDERSTOOD. i guess no one wants to be accused of such things as “re-sacrificing Christ” and worshipping statues…

but if we dont stand up for our faith… these myths will continue and grow and… mestastasize… like the cancer that it is…

gotta go but thanks for posting this…

Such a spot-on post; I know that in coming back to the Faith I am re-learning how to be open about it, instead of shut up like when I was an empty nihilist who believed in nothing.

Anti-Catholicism persists in part because Catholics let ourselves become cowed. The trend of the past few hundred years is keeping religion out of life of all kinds until it’s an entirely secret matter.

 

[Garland]

PJM, Your post #146. AMEN AMEN AMEN. Thank you. Blessings. Garland

 

[hillsteven]

Having just read through the thread, I have a few observations.

First, this is 10 January, 2010, and I am currently concluding a visit to Natchitoches, LA, which is home to the newly elevated (as of TODAY) Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. The Catholic Church has deep, deep roots here in NW Louisiana, and the culture is richly Catholic. If you ever have the opportunity to get this way (and this is sadly one of those “you have to be going there to get there” kind of towns), the Basilica is gorgeous, and the culture is richly Southern.

Second, our home is actually in North Georgia, where we are part of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. Ours is a large, and rapidly growing Diocese… so much so that we now have an Auxiliary Bishop! (We asked for two, but were only granted one.) The parish we attend is growing rapidly, and the RCIA program has grown substantially each of the past three years I’ve been part of it.

So much for my particular background… I have found since converting to the Catholic Church 10 short years ago that there are definite prejudices towards Catholics, particularly by Baptists, and most especially by those that consider themselves to be Fundamentalist. My neighbor, whom I have been praying for and slowly “working on” evangelizing for the two years we’ve known each other, still slips up and refers to “…both Christians AND Catholics…” in statements to me.

I think that the reason that the Catholic Church does not advertise on billboards, etc, is that it smacks of commercialism. We have FANTASTIC outreach programs (catholics come home, Catholic Answers, EWTN, etc), but those are typically driven primarily by efforts of the laity. The difference really is how we look at things. Protestant churches, with few notable exceptions, are managed only at the local church congregation level. Sure, there is a “governing body” of sorts for most denominational movements of any size (Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, UCC, etc.) But if you ask your average member of these denominations, they couldn’t even tell you where their “headquarters” (or whatever) is located, much less who serves on the board and what the relationship of their actual church is to the governing body. As Catholics, we are members of distinct parishes, but we all have no confusion that we are members of the larger Catholic Church… so “membership drives” as such make no real sense… and isn’t that what most of the billboards we all see really are?

I’ve seen it said here, but it bears repeating. I’ve seen it said here, but it bears repeating:

The BEST form of evangelization we can do as a CHURCH is to live our lives publicly as Catholic Christians. Don’t hide who you are, and don’t leave your religion in the pew with the hymnals. BE Catholic. BE Christian. to quote John Paul the Great, “BE NOT AFRAID.” Then when someone asks you how you persevere with such enthusiasm, you have no hesitations about it. If your friends and coworkers do not know your religious affiliations, you’re not doing it right!

Sorry for the long-winded post… when I get behind a keyboard, I can sometimes take up to 1000 words to clear my throat!

 

[PJM]

=hillsteven;6154135]Having just read through the thread, I have a few observations.

First, this is 10 January, 2010, and I am currently concluding a visit to Natchitoches, LA, which is home to the newly elevated (as of TODAY) Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. The Catholic Church has deep, deep roots here in NW Louisiana, and the culture is richly Catholic. If you ever have the opportunity to get this way (and this is sadly one of those “you have to be going there to get there” kind of towns), the Basilica is gorgeous, and the culture is richly Southern.

Second, our home is actually in North Georgia, where we are part of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. Ours is a large, and rapidly growing Diocese… so much so that we now have an Auxiliary Bishop! (We asked for two, but were only granted one.) The parish we attend is growing rapidly, and the RCIA program has grown substantially each of the past three years I’ve been part of it.

So much for my particular background… I have found since converting to the Catholic Church 10 short years ago that there are definite prejudices towards Catholics, particularly by Baptists, and most especially by those that consider themselves to be Fundamentalist. My neighbor, whom I have been praying for and slowly “working on” evangelizing for the two years we’ve known each other, still slips up and refers to “…both Christians AND Catholics…” in statements to me.

I think that the reason that the Catholic Church does not advertise on billboards, etc, is that it smacks of commercialism. We have FANTASTIC outreach programs (catholics come home, Catholic Answers, EWTN, etc), but those are typically driven primarily by efforts of the laity. The difference really is how we look at things. Protestant churches, with few notable exceptions, are managed only at the local church congregation level. Sure, there is a “governing body” of sorts for most denominational movements of any size (Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, UCC, etc.) But if you ask your average member of these denominations, they couldn’t even tell you where their “headquarters” (or whatever) is located, much less who serves on the board and what the relationship of their actual church is to the governing body. As Catholics, we are members of distinct parishes, but we all have no confusion that we are members of the larger Catholic Church… so “membership drives” as such make no real sense… and isn’t that what most of the billboards we all see really are?

I’ve seen it said here, but it bears repeating. I’ve seen it said here, but it bears repeating:

The BEST form of evangelization we can do as a CHURCH is to live our lives publicly as Catholic Christians. Don’t hide who you are, and don’t leave your religion in the pew with the hymnals. BE Catholic. BE Christian. to quote John Paul the Great, “BE NOT AFRAID.” Then when someone asks you how you persevere with such enthusiasm, you have no hesitations about it. If your friends and coworkers do not know your religious affiliations, you’re not doing it right!

Sorry for the long-winded post… when I get behind a keyboard, I can sometimes take up to 1000 words to clear my throat!

***Amen Brother Steve,

Living our Faith publicly on the hillside of life, is not only living our Faith, but also loving our neighbors and we Love our God***

 

[insideitall]

I had no idea that all the church of christ churches were actually a denomination. I figured it was just how joe schmoe local evangelical pastor named his church. It just seemed like a nice, generic church name. church-of-christ.org/churches/United_States/United_States.htm is the website I went to.

I live in a southern city, which isn’t anywhere near hardcore south because so many people here are northern transplants (myself included). Anyway, while the diocese is fairly large, there are not many churches actually in the city limits… but, the catholics here actually seem to know what it means to be catholic. I could go without all the touchy-feely-ness and the praise bands, though. I grew up in the northeast, and my town was very heavily catholic (at least in name, anyway).

At least 99% of the people I went to ccd with were cradle catholics, and stayed that way (as in, after confirmation I’d be lucky to see at most one or two of my classmates at mass). During ccd we’d all do hw, because practically your entire school class was there. I suppose everyone else really just became agnostic. All I remember we did in ccd was fill in the blanks to some prayers, and learn lists of things. I didn’t really know anything about what the church taught until late hs, when I started looking stuff up on my own and actually talking to my mother. I’m pretty sure there was no training for the teachers. The northeast in general has that cradle catholic mentality because they’re all too busy being socially liberal to bother being religiously conservative.

Anyway, as silly as I find some southern things (like their accent - I love love love that geico pothole commercial, it cracks me up), their phrases, their insistence on frying EVERYTHING (turkey? wtf?) and eating strange animal parts, and their ridiculous obsession with sweet tea), I am glad that somewhere in the us, catholics actually know what the church teaches. Down here, if you say “oh, I’m catholic” it’s taken to mean that you go to church, that you’re actually involved somehow. I guess it comes from protestants (evangelicals, anyway) personally accepting christ and choosing what church to go to, so they actually are involved in their faith. Up north you have to specify that you’re a practicing catholic. Then people look at you funny, and if they put two and two together and figure out you’re also pro life and against gay marriage, you get lumped in with the ‘right-wing-religious-nutjob’ group.

youtube.com/watch?v=NjMUfIKktWU Haha… “cause I’m a pothole…”

 

[insideitall]

Woah, I just looked at that county map showing percentages. I didn’t realize there were that few places with even a quarter of the people being catholic!

 

[Sherry_G]

I just moved to the south last September, 2009. Luckily for me there is a beautiful Catholic Church within 3 miles of my house. Most of my husband’s family are not only non-Catholic, I would have described them as Anti-Catholic but now see it is only through lack of education. Be open to explain our beautiful Catholic faith and things will change - one person at a time. believe it or not, I went to Midnight Mass with my husband, but also with 6 non-Catholic in-laws in tow! That has lead to several more really good discussions. I can see the Holy Spirit is working things out now. That is how our faith spread in the beginning- one soul at a time- and that is how it continues. I am nearly retirment age and moved south due to financial concerns and attractions. I believe that baby boomers who have the faith can pass it on and help to educate and so convert the south as more and more move here for lower taxes and other benefits ie warmer climate.

 

[Janet1983]

Actually, Catholicism is growing rapidly in the South right now. This is partly due to a growth in converts, but mostly due to a large influx of Hispanics. In Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for example, the percentage of Catholics was just 3% in 2000, but this year, hit 6%. By 2012, it is projected to be near 10%. In Tuscaloosa, it is also partially fueled by a large expansion of the university, which is trying to grow from 20,000 to 30,000 students. This inevitably brings in some Catholics from Mobile, New Orleans, and other areas, as well as a slightly larger than normal number of converts. There are two Catholic parishes in Tuscaloosa. One just built a giant new sanctuary that triples it’s capacity to over 1,000 people, and the campus parish just bought the adjacent property so it can undergo a huge expansion as well. However, even with the growth, you rarely see Catholic Churches outside of the larger cities. There are many counties in Alabama that have NO Catholic church whatsoever. Still, the percentage of Catholics, even statewide, is growing rapidly.

Well looking at Texas, they have a high number in Catholics for the general region. But if you take a closer look at the state you see that these numbers are mainly along the border.
My city has 86,911 inhabitants and one Catholic Church… Many of the people who go there (hearsay) and also their priests and some workers are fluent in Spanish…
When I was still on-post in Germany I was invited to a function of the Catholic congregation and they did their thing distributing pictures of Mary (I did not go to the Mass before that function). Well after a while they looked around and saw that I was rather confused. I don’t speak Spanish and all of them did. They were nice enough to say everything twice from that point on…
Guess that’s really where the majority of growth in Catholic numbers is coming from…

In Him,
Janet

 

[FishHookOpenEye]

Here in Mississippi, I think only about 2%-3% of the population is Catholic. At least that’s the last numbers I heard. There are some who may be “hostile” towards Catholicism, but I don’t believe it’s any worse here. We are in the “Bible Belt”, and in some parts, have a Baptist (usually) church on every corner. I have also heard some REALLY harsh anti-Catholicism on a radio program I ran across once. All the hosts were former Catholics. Again, I just don’t think it’s isolated here in the South. One guy claimed that the Vatican actually hates Jesus Christ, worships Mary, and believe that if we kill Jesus enough times at mass, He won’t come back - that’s verbatim.

First off, Shane, the stuff you quoted made me really sad. But back to the matter at hand. I’ve lived in different areas throughout the state. I make my home on the coast, which is roughly half Catholic, but there are a few back-woods churches that are at least slightly anti-Catholic. Most of the anti-Catholicism I’ve experienced is among people who don’t understand the religion. On the coast, most people are ok with Catholics (at least outwardly) because there are so many of them. The high school I attended had people of all religions and was a gifted school, so people were pretty accepting. Now that I’m in college, I experience more of it because a lot of the people I’ve met are raised with it. I think the problem with anti-Catholicism in the South is the same as the problem with the education problem in the South.

 

[tpw]

Probably lots of reasons…

Education levels are lower in the south than virtually any part of the country…

Biblical fundamentalism flourishes among ignorant people…

Catholics were very involved in the civil rights movement especially in the South…

Add to that long-standing presence of very conservative Christian churches who are often in themselves quite hostile to both mainline Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. More likely than not there also probably not part of the ecumenical dialogue…

A lie repeated long enough becomes “truth”…

 

[distracted]

well, tpw…

that just wasn’t very nice…



true… but not very nice…

anyhow…

my thought was… .one of them anyhow… that it hasn’t been very Catholic cuz the Ctholic Church has always been against slavery… and you know… The Catholics in the south probably just didn’t want to live there long-term and etc… etc…

but i know there are other … uh… “nicer” reasons…

 

[Rence]

Bubba, the South is very supportive of Catholicism, especially these days. You might find a Protestant Pastor or two who would gig us but just about everyone you’ll meet will respect the Church at some level.

Oh, do you know were EWTN is located? In the Heart of Dixie. Think the Holy Spirit guided Sr. Angelica to that spot by happen chance?

Also, did you see the Gallop Poll from earlier this year about Religion? Check this.

gallup.com/poll/114022/State-States-Importance-Religion.aspx

I honestly didn’t see Catholicism represented in the above referenced poll. But I could have missed it. From what I saw, that poll represented identification to a religion in general, not specifically Catholicism or Protestantism. Again, I might have missed it.

But this other poll I found broke down the regions by religion:
gallup.com/poll/122075/Religious-Identity-States-Differ-Widely.aspx

For example it says:

Non-Catholic Christians – the largest religious group in the country today – are heavily concentrated in the South and nearby states, while constituting only a minority of residents of Northeastern states, and of many Middle Atlantic and Western states.

and

The largest religious group in America is the 54% of Americans who identify themselves as Protestants or who identify with a non-Catholic Christian religion. There are significant differences in the distribution of this group of non-Catholic Christians across the states of the union. In some states, the percentage of Protestants/other non-Catholic Christians rises to 80% or higher.

About 24% of all American adults identified as Catholic between January and June of this year

The 10 states with the lowest percentages of Catholics are all in or close to the South, with the exception of Utah (with its high concentration of Mormons). Mississippi, with a 6% Catholic population, has the lowest proportion of Catholics of any state.

 

[HarmonyServant]

My neck of the woods (Northeast Alabama, yo) isn’t that bad regarding anti-Catholicism. In fact, we have two Catholic Churches about half an hour from my home. They built the second church in response to the growing number of converts. Yes, immigration did play a role, but the majority of growth came from expanding families and converts from other Christian faiths.

I attend the smaller of the two churches and at the later service, the sanctuary is packed with people. Some were even standing in the back because there wasn’t any more room to sit down. The other church sits seven hundred, and it’s full every Sunday morning. We’re very blessed with faithful Catholics.