Why is the South So Hostile to Catholicism?

[PastGrandKnight]

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.

I am not in the least surprised to hear that Mobile is doing well, even after the retirement of Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb. It’s just too bad we don’t have a great man like him in my Diocese.

As for advertising, let’s just put it this way: Word of mouth is the best form of advertising, and it comes with no monetary outlay. The members of any given Parish can show their feelings for that parish by talking about it with friends, neighbors, etc. There is no real need to “pound the pavement”, as others do.

 

[Disciple96]

Oops! I just saw this reply, Pippuh, -]dahlin’/-]. Didn’t mean to ignore you. Can you evuh forgive me?

You know back during the first energy crisis (during the Nixon or Ford administration) a lot of people here in Texas had bumper stickers that read “Drive 95 and freeze a Yankee in the dark”…

Heh. I never heard that one before. But I’ve driven in Texas a few times and let me tell ya, even though you don’t need me to tell ya, let me tell ya them Texans is crazy, er, excuse me, Pippuh, that was rude of me. I meant to say, you Texans is crazy!

I never knew the speed limit was that high anywhere in the states until I went to Texas. But then, Texas is like a whole 'nother country.

But like yourself, we get passed like we are parked, by people giving us dirty looks and worse, by people driving HUGE pick-ups, SUVs, and Hummers. Very few people here drive just cars, and when they do it’s huge gas hogs.

Don’t they drive biiiiiiiiiiiiig trucks out there, though? SUV’s seem huuuuuge in Texas, especially out in West Texas where driving 95 feels like standing still and they will flat mow you down if you’re doin’ a hundred.

Er, so I’ve been told.

 

[pipper]

Oh my, I think perhaps you’ve been laboring under the assumption that I am a man when I am, in fact, very much a woman. So you should hear me call you “dahlin’” (if I were to call you “dahlin’”, that is, which I’m not allowed to, so you won’t) in my drop dead gorgeous and extremely sultry southern sotto voce.

And we imbibe our fair share of margaritas here also, don’t you know, and mojitos too.

Yep, I thght you were male, like I already said I had a stroke that affected me mentally, I just don’t read into things and get points like normal
people do.

And of course I cannot undefstand all of yout nuances, so I cannot tell if you are serious when you hint at? traveling cross country to meet, but if you were considering it? I would ask you to forget it. It is much closer to Los AAngeles than most parts of the deep south from here, and I live in a small town with no airport, I did mention that I can no longer drive.

My stroke had many effects on me, including making me an in valid candidate for marriage, but I doubt that was in your mind anyway.

On a more light note, I love your pictures in the link, I still have a Minolta Maxxum (sp?) camera with a ton of lenses, I used to use. My digicam I can no longer use since it’s software is not compatable with my new computer.

Feel free to caall me darliin anytime, sorry for the confusion.

Darlin Pip

 

[pipper]

Oops! I just saw this reply, Pippuh, -]dahlin’/-]. Didn’t mean to ignore you. Can you evuh forgive me?

Heh. I never heard that one before. But I’ve driven in Texas a few times and let me tell ya, even though you don’t need me to tell ya, let me tell ya them Texans is crazy, er, excuse me, Pippuh, that was rude of me. I meant to say, you Texans is crazy!

I never knew the speed limit was that high anywhere in the states until I went to Texas. But then, Texas is like a whole 'nother country.

Don’t they drive biiiiiiiiiiiiig trucks out there, though? SUV’s seem huuuuuge in Texas, especially out in West Texas where driving 95 feels like standing still and they will flat mow you down if you’re doin’ a hundred.

Er, so I’ve been told.

It can never be rude to tell the truth!

When I said huge pick-ups, of course that I what Immeant…trucks. Here in Texass we call them pickups or [pickumuptrucks].

And if you think people drive fast here, just go to Arizona, esp the interstate between Tuscon and Phoenix, back when I could drive I went to Phoenis, where I have kin, on that freeway you can drive as fast as you can, I drove 90, and still got dirty looks, and nobody gets tickets, I never even saw a single staate police car.

I had this stroke during hurricane kathrina and the gas prices were going nuts, I was shocked to see $50 for a tank

darlin pipper

 

[dominicandinah]

My take on this would be that the South has always been rather “homogenous” in that it doesn’t take kindly to folks other than themselves. Catholics are a very diverse group regarding ethnicity and I’m sure that didn’t sit well with many folks. Look at all the lynchings of black men that took place, even as recent as 40-50 years ago.

 

[Disciple96]

My take on this would be that the South has always been rather “homogenous” in that it doesn’t take kindly to folks other than themselves. Catholics are a very diverse group regarding ethnicity and I’m sure that didn’t sit well with many folks. Look at all the lynchings of black men that took place, even as recent as 40-50 years ago.

Well, that might be true in the smaller towns and out in the country, and that’s a mighty big “might”. In the larger cities, not so much, in my experience. We have folks from all over the world living in Birmingham, Atlanta, Nashville, etc. And the South was settled by people from all over the world too.

As for us not taking to folks other than ourselves, I might mention that I’ve lived up North and I’ve traveled around the country too and I don’t find the South so different from the rest of the U.S. in that respect. (I’m thinking of the Midwest, the North, New England, the Wild Wild West, where I’ve experienced my share of prejudice because my Southern accent was such a giveaway everywhere I went.)

I think the problem is more that Catholics are simply a small minority and, until recently, a silent minority at that. There used to be so many Protestants who would get in your face when they’d see you make the Sign of the Cross. Now that the secularists are becoming more numerous, the denomination thing seems to be less important to the average Joe. And we done got used to seein’ Yankees and other furrenners in our midst.

 

[Qwikness]

Xenophobia, Catholics are seen as foreigners and yankees. They aren’t Anglo Saxon Protestant. Who knows, the increase in illegals and migrant workers may reignite the anti-Catholic feelings. I could see hostility toward the Chruch based on its support of immigration reform.

Numbers wise, there are too few priests whereas there’s lots of protestant pastors. In the past priests had to do circuits. Folks wouldn’t have mass for weeks, protestants filled the vacuum. That is now the fear with all the migrant workers: not enough priests, particularly spanish speaking priests.

As far as Advertising, I don’t think Catholic churches have enough money to advertise. Don’t Catholics give less than any other?

 

[Light_Seeker]

As far as Advertising, I don’t think Catholic churches have enough money to advertise. Don’t Catholics give less than any other?

Interesting question.

I can only speak for my parish, as the weekly collection numbers are published in the bulletin. It’s never had any problems meeting the requirements to the diocese & making the annual budget.

What I do find very interesting is Catholic Charities have historically been in the top 3 U.S. charities every year, usually in first place, for $$$ distributed. Since U.S. Catholics are a religious minority, it makes any Catholic proud. Well, at least me.

I’ve seen with many Protestant friends that their roots aren’t very deep attending the same Church or denomination. Many I know will attend a Baptist church for a year or 2, than ‘shop around’ for another service & change denominations into Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, etc, if they feel they can connect with the preacher & the families there. When I questioned one friend, he felt his Minister couldn’t offer him any more since he’s heard all his sermons. If this is the norm, no wonder Protestant Churches have to advertise to keep up with their 10% tithes. Catholics may change to a different parish, but only after considerable thought will they decide to ‘leave’ their Catholicism in favor of Protestantism.

 

[Disciple96]

After saying that I haven’t experienced much anti-Catholicism in the South lately, one of my friends has really been pouring it on. She’s nice to our mutual friend who I’m sponsoring in the RCIA, but she really lets me have it when the other one is not around. I mean she really lit into me on the phone last week. To the point of telling me that if she had to attend Mass every week, she’d slit her wrist.

I won’t even tell you all the other things she said. Suffice it to say that I maintained my calm and composure through a deliberate act of the will. And I’ll have to struggle the next time we all get together too. But I’ll do it. I figure I’ve been dropped into her life for a reason. Maybe she’ll end up being Catholic one day. Who knows? I’ll pray for her anyway.

 

[jean8]

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.

Most people in any area of the US do not really understand the Catholic doctrine.
The last thing they think of is that Catholics are christians. They worship the same Lord that other christians do. yet they do little to study this doctrine.
This is one reason why we have the passage in the Bible, Do not judge your brother.
Mt.7:1-5 Another passage I like is Rom.2:11 “For God does not show favoritism.”
The Lord loves all sinners.

God bless,
jean

 

[jean8]

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 following is one map which I found,

valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/religion/catholic.gif

You can see it here.

jean

 

[RobbyS]

After saying that I haven’t experienced much anti-Catholicism in the South lately, one of my friends has really been pouring it on. She’s nice to our mutual friend who I’m sponsoring in the RCIA, but she really lets me have it when the other one is not around. I mean she really lit into me on the phone last week. To the point of telling me that if she had to attend Mass every week, she’d slit her wrist.

I won’t even tell you all the other things she said. Suffice it to say that I maintained my calm and composure through a deliberate act of the will. And I’ll have to struggle the next time we all get together too. But I’ll do it. I figure I’ve been dropped into her life for a reason. Maybe she’ll end up being Catholic one day. Who knows? I’ll pray for her anyway.

The South was settled by tons of Scotch-Irish, who were far more bigoted toward the Church than even the English.

 

[pipper]

The South was settled by tons of Scotch-Irish, who were far more bigoted toward the Church than even the English.

Very true, remember the Scots-Irish were not true Irishmen at all. they were Scots sent by Elizabeth I to steal Ireland from the Irish, they hate Catholics, think Ian Paisley.

 

[Palm_Tree]

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.

Regarding people that are hostile to Catholics, I’ve only known one person like this in my life. He happened to be a Methodist that went to church every week. With me he just let me know he was disgusted by the fact that I was a Catholic, but he didn’t get into it (although he did with two other Catholics I know). One day I mentioned to him that I was going to my parish to help out with tutoring poor children from immigrant families, and he really warmed up and was really impressed and said he’d like to go start doing stuff like that. After that, he never acted negative toward Catholicism in my presence.

As for why your local Catholic churches aren’t doing more advertising, it could be because the idea never occurred to them or it could be that they think it is a waste of money (they might have even determined this after decades of advertising proved to be a waste of time and money). Personally, I’ve never seen a church advertisment that I didn’t think was a waste of money, I’ve never seen a church advertisment that made me think better of a church (not even Catholic churches), and I have seen plenty of church advertisments that I thought were cheesy. But I think it would be awesome if your Catholic diocese made a TV commercial similar to those TV commercials you see for universities, trying to build better PR for the Church in your area. The commercial could show all the positive work being done in the Catholic churches in that diocese, like showing Catholics tutoring poor immigrant children, etc, etc. But a TV commercial costs of boatload of money to produce and to have a network air. You’d be surprised at how many Catholic dioceses and churches are barely getting by financially, and by how many are in the red. Catholics in those parishes and dioceses don’t donate as much money to the church as they used to in the past.

Regarding the door-to-door thing like the Mormons do, I don’t know if that is a good thing or not. Do you like door-to-door salemen showing up at your door? A lot of people hate this, just like they hate getting calls from telemarketers, junk mail in their mailbox, and spam in their inbox. As for myself, I respect what those door-to-door Mormons are doing, so I’m always nice to them, I invite them inside, I offer them drinks, let them give their little talk, I do my best to keep myself from laughing at their beliefs, I change the subject to good things about the Mormon church that they do, I let them know that I respect what they are doing, and I politely send them on their way.

Regarding how one of your local Baptist churches is practically a small city, with churches, support groups, a gym, youth groups, a park and pretty much everything you can imagine… yeah, many of my local Catholic churches are like that. Granted, my parish isn’t like that, yet. But my parish was just founded in the late 80’s, and we are already one of the top three churches of the 40 or so Christian churches within a mile or two of me, and we have just started construction on a 5-story high old-school-cathedral type church, a brand new state-of-the-art grammer school, etc… so we are getting there.

 

[Sr_Sally]

One thing I’ve heard about advertising is that Protestants are each trying to build up a “mega-church” while the ordinary Catholic parish is already the size of a mega-church!

However, also many Protestant churches–particularly Independent churches–are built on a corporate business model. The more ‘customers’ they have, the more the bottom line grows and the larger the pastor’s salary. This is not necessarily to say that all protestant pastors are money-grubbing, but when you are also supporting a wife and family and have never really come near a vow of poverty, you are looking to increase your salary just like the rest of us laymen are! I know that diocesan priests don’t take a vow of poverty, but at least they’ve heard of the concept!

More important perhaps is what another poster said: the Catholic parish exists to serve the Catholic population with the sacraments. In the past evangelism was done by missionary orders (even in the US) and only after a base of Catholics was built up would the Bishop send in permanent priests to serve the newly formed parishes. I think that’s how things were in much of the South. Also those parts of the South that the French settled have a tradition of Catholcism, while places like Georgia do not.

 

[Mimi]

When I asked a priest how come we weren’t advertising our campus chapel while the Protestants were doing some heavy marketing, he said something to the like of that the Catholic chapel’s main duty was to serve the Catholics who needed the Sacraments while the Protestants were trying to prosletyze and attract people to their services.

Being part of a Protestant organization for a short while, I did notice that their focus was more on attracting new members as they believe that people had to be “saved.”

The Catholic parishes I’ve been a part of focus on serving the needs of already-existing Catholics and serving the poor, regardless of religion. People who sign up for RCIA, do so out of true desire, not because they were tricked into with with some fun social activity meant to attract them.

It’s not prosletizing to just put out a notice that there are classes available for anyone who might be interested in the Catholic faith. There is a book titled Inviting Catholics Home in which it is described how to go about setting up and running classes such as these. It may attract some who, for whatever reason, just drifted away, but aren’t ready to commit to coming to Mass yet. Maybe they misunderstood some doctrines or teachings, or were led astray – or just weren’t well catechized in the first place.

There is a way you could do some evangelizing on your own. You could get some business cards with www.catholicscomehome.org on them and leave them around; in bathrooms, at a restauraunt, etc. Find a local business owned by a Catholic (just ask around in the parish, or call numbers from the ads on the back of the bulletin). Ask if they would be willing to have a small literature rack on the counter – like at a pizza parlor for example. Our Sunday Visitor has some excellent pamphlets – 10 Reasons to Come Back to the Catholic Church is one I recall seeing. Of course, Catholic Answers has tracts also. I often think that the St. Vincent de Paul thrift stores should have a sign up for Catholics Come Home in their window. Maybe the manager would appreciate someone taking up that work (get a sign printed, take it to the store, make sure it’s in a good place, check back and see if it’s still up and in good condition). Wouldn’t cost much, I’m sure.

I do think parishes could do more. I know all the area churches have their services listed in the daily paper at least once a week – but I rarely see the Catholic ones listed. It’s like we don’t exist. Maybe there is the idea that we don’t want to give the impression that Catholic is a denomination thrown in there with the others?

My $0.02 – I’d like to hear if anyone out there is doing anything (like what I wrote above).

Mimi

 

[Disciple96]

One thing I’ve heard about advertising is that Protestants are each trying to build up a “mega-church” while the ordinary Catholic parish is already the size of a mega-church!

Well, I know I’ve seen a few large Catholic parishes in Alabama, but those large parishes are in the minority in most of the South. Like you mentioned, places that have a Catholic past, that were Spanish or French influenced, have larger parishes. But that sure isn’t the case in Alabama except down near the coast. The rest of the state has some of those mega-churches but none of those are Catholic.

The only church I’ve ever been in that is really what I think of as a mega-church was in McLean Virginia. That thing was so huge, it had three parking decks and a food court. I’m not making that up, it actually had a food court! I felt like I was in a civic center or a really big theater complex. Never seen anything else like it. And I hope I never do. It really gave me the creeps. I like my churches to feel like churches, ya know? I like the feeling and the look of the sacred rather than the shopping mall.

 

[PastGrandKnight]

Well, I know I’ve seen a few large Catholic parishes in Alabama, but those large parishes are in the minority in most of the South. Like you mentioned, places that have a Catholic past, that were Spanish or French influenced, have larger parishes. But that sure isn’t the case in Alabama except down near the coast. The rest of the state has some of those mega-churches but none of those are Catholic.

The only church I’ve ever been in that is really what I think of as a mega-church was in McLean Virginia. That thing was so huge, it had three parking decks and a food court. I’m not making that up, it actually had a food court! I felt like I was in a civic center or a really big theater complex. Never seen anything else like it. And I hope I never do. It really gave me the creeps. I like my churches to feel like churches, ya know? I like the feeling and the look of the sacred rather than the shopping mall.

If you’d like to see a “mega-Church” that is also Roman Catholic, try going to Washington, DC, to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. It has FOUR pipe organs, two of which can be played from one location (somehow!). The mural in the Sanctuary has a painting of Jesus, who’s eyebrows are arched as if he is angry. That may be one of the most dramatic paintings of the Lord that I’ve ever seen.
They also have restaurants in the downstairs section, and the Church can seat 6000 for a single Mass. Oh, the Bell tower is also one of the tallest such towers in the world, on the order of some 329 feet.

 

[Disciple96]

Yeah, I know those churches exist, the ones that are huge. And in the case of the Basilica, since it is beautiful and very sacred in attitude and appearance, I’m sure I’ll love it when I finally get to see it in person.

But those shopping mall mega-churches, you can have 'em! Ugh!

 

[Walden]

Yeah, I know those churches exist, the ones that are huge. And in the case of the Basilica, since it is beautiful and very sacred in attitude and appearance, I’m sure I’ll love it when I finally get to see it in person.

But those shopping mall mega-churches, you can have 'em! Ugh!

I call 'em “Six Flags over Jesus”

Seriously though, the trend now is to drop the denominational title and loosen up on the theology to get butts in the seats.