Posted on 03/26/2009 10:18:20 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Could some Catholics be losing faith in their religion? According to a new report released by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Affairs, Catholicism in America is shedding more members than any other traditional faith. The numbers are alarming. The Official Catholic Directory of 2008 reports there are over 67.1 million Catholics in the US, a decrease of nearly a half a million in the span of a year. The result has been the shuttering of parishes throughout much of the country.
Parts of Ohio, including Cleveland, have been hit especially hard, but closures have effected perishes throughout the US, including Allentown, Pennsylvania, Camden, New Jersey and New York City. As many as a third of those in the survey raised as Roman Catholics no longer attend the church.
The cause of the migration away from Catholicism is said to be rooted in money. "Too many bishops are treating parishes as if they were Starbucks franchises," Sister Christine Schenk, a Cleveland-area nun opined. "It's about more than money. It's about mission to the people," she said. "This isn't what Jesus would do."
The Catholic church has been faced with a number of image problems in recent years, as a result of internal strife and mounting scandal. The most prominent scandal involved accusation of sexual misconduct between Catholic priests and under-age minors, usually young boys. Some priests were ultimately defrocked, while others served time in jail.
By the numbers:
Prior years have the USCCB giving figures of 63.9 million in 2005 and 64.4 million in 2006. This article gives 67.5 million in 2007 and 67.1 million in 2008.
But the recent U.S. Religious Landscape Survey gives a figure of 54 million Catholics for 2008. From March, 2008's Study: Catholics losing the faith:
No other religion in the United States has lost more members to other faiths, or to no faith at all, than Catholicism, according to the new survey released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The survey, conducted in 2007, found that 31 percent of Americans were raised Catholic, but less than 25 per cent of them still identify as Catholic.Roughly 10 percent of all Americans have strayed from Catholic roots, the study reported.
It’s a misleading headline. I did not lose my Faith. I decline to support the Church for various reasons.
Same here. My faith in God is intact. My faith in the Church is long gone.
Huh? I don't even know what this means. It's hardly like the medieval church when tithes and church benefices were commodities to be amassed. A parish and the broader Church does need funds to operate, and if somebody is peculating, then that person should be punished. It doesn't bring into question the Church's entire teaching in the least. If people are leaving the Church solely because a parish passes around the collection plate, then I submit that they have a very superficial understanding of what the faith is about to begin with. The Church is based on faith and the sacraments, which is not dependent on how good or bad a particular bishop is. I suspect a liberal agenda on the part of this particular nun.
Oh! It’s you again!
So I take it you are cheering this “news?”
No, I've always been me. Boo.
But it's not working, apparently.
That seems to be the approach advocated by Catholic Answers, in regards to Mormons at least.
>> No other religion in the United States has lost more members to other faiths, or to no faith at all, than Catholicism, according to the new survey released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. <<
Since there are about almost as many Catholics as members of all other religions combined, that’s hardly surprising.
>> But the recent U.S. Religious Landscape Survey gives a figure of 54 million Catholics for 2008. <<
That’s because the US Religious Landscape Survey counts only adults. In recent years, it has shown the same steady growth that the USCCB has.
Going from 2005 to 2006 to 2008, one sees steady, strong growth. The only news here is the discovery that the 2007 data, showing incredibly fast growth, was anomalous.
>> Hallelujah!!! God’s PEOPLE are getting it!! They don’t know what they are getting yet but they will start doing what He has told them to do!! To those of you who feel this way....YOU ARE THE CHURCH!! Living Stones!! Figure out WHO Rev. 17 is and then LOOK at Rev. 18...and what God says to do. FIGURE out what God is telling HIS people to come out of...He isn’t telling the world this...He is telling HIS PEOPLE...BELIEVERS. Then sit back and watch what he does...He tells you what He is going to do. Get in scripture and find out what was thought about denominations and religion. Get in scripture and FIND the connections between then and now. Identify the players!!! FORGET TRADITIONS...God said “The traditions of MEN make the word of God of NO EFFECT.” Forget them!! You CAN NOT see clearly through them or understand what is coming!! Praise God IT IS starting! “You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free!!!” I’m so excited...just seeing a few doing what I know is a beginning of what is coming makes me want to turn cart wheels...but I never could do cart wheels...how about jump up and down!! LOL <<
Wow, that’s a lot of joy and excitement over the fact that all denominations are down lately, except the Mormons who deny the divinity of Christ and absolutely insane, conspiracy-obsessed, cult-spawning 7th-Day Adventists.
Whooppeee!!!
The data doesn’t support the conclusion that any Protestant doctrine of denomination is growing. To the contrary, their numbers are collapsing IN SPITE of the massive numbers of Catholics taking up their pews.
If Catholics are becoming Protestants, Protestants are becoming marginally affiliated, and the marginally affiliated are becoming non-Christian, that’s reason for Christians to be gleeful?
Mormons do not deny the divinity of Christ.
The article mentions Allentown PA. They have closed about 35% of their churches, all due to lack of attendance and insufficient funding.
You don’t understand dangus.
WHAT do you think will bring about the separation of the sheep and the goats? What is the thrashing floor? What are the wheat and the tares?
“Good will be called bad and bad will be called good.” That is an endtime quote. WHAT if everything you have been led to believe is good...is not?
THINK dangus...THINK..reason. WHAT 2 forces/systems came together to crucify Christ? Did He not WARN us that what came against Him would also come against His people? WHAT are the Beast and the Whore??? WHO are they? HOW are they in bed together? What makes the whore a whore??? WHO is she?? WHAT is she??? God obviously hates her, He tells His people to get out of her before He destroys her!!
You don’t understand...and I will not get on you for that.
All I can tell you to help you understand is try de-programing a Democrat. People are programmed...more than you know...and it has taken generations to do it.
I have one question for you...does God change the heart of men or do systems? What does scripture say about where a seed is planted? God sees every move I make and every thought I have...do you think playing the religious game will change that? Maybe in the eyes of men but not God. Look at the Pharisees...how they tried to appear religious to men and Christ called them white washed tombstones full of dead mens works...they were Jews and the religious equivilant of what you see today and Christ was NOT impressed! So they killed Him. Read my tag-line..it is scripture!
WHY do you think scripture talks about perilous times..it isn’t our physical death we should fear...it is our eternal death...and that is what the war is about. Deception..smoke and mirrors...just like you see the Gov. doing..right now. Guess that makes Politics and Religion pretty good bedfellows doesn’t it????? The EXACT same thing that happened when the Religious Pharisees went to Political Rome and demanded Christ be killed. I wonder if the Pharisees then looked at Rome and said..ok..we’ve gotten rid of a threat for you..can we not pay our taxes to you now?? Can we be special??? Rome will you take care of us??? We took care of you, we convinced most of the people he was bad...worse than Barabas. We molded their way of thinking to protect you Rome.
WE HAVE BEEN WARNED.
>> The article mentions Allentown PA. They have closed about 35% of their churches, all due to lack of attendance and insufficient funding. <<
OK, that’s one small-to-midsized city. Catholics absolutely are moving out of cities and out of the northeast. And I’ll immediately concede that church attendance in the northeast is atrociously poor. But that’s a trend that was also existing in 2007, when Catholicism was (statistically) growing faster than all other Christian groups combined.
Like I said: the long-term trend for Catholicism is robust numerical growth. Collapses in Catholic numbers in individual cities is a regional issue, having little to do with faith adherence and much more to do with shifting demographics.
>> As many as a third of those in the survey raised as Roman Catholics no longer attend the church. <<
Truthfully, I wish the news was that good. A 67% attendance rate would be absolutely phenomenal for any church.
CA's happy to bring Mormons and others into the Church, but it doesn't make sense to do that unless they're also prepared to "play defense" to keep Catholics Catholic.
Pagan Rome under the Caesars and apostate first-century Jerusalem. In fact, Revelation is crystal clear that the beast first supported the whore and then turned on her and "burned her with fire". That happened, exactly as described, in AD 70.
Read a real exegesis of Revelation sometime. Any of the Calvinists here can point you to one.
You’re not really bringing up the whole whore of Babylon thing are you?
Cause if you do:
1. You have to recognize that Babylon was symbolic for Rome, and thus, accept the biblical proof that Peter was writing from Rome.
2. Luther, who invented the Pope=Babylon nonsense had no problem with the book of Peter because he dismissed it, along with Revelations, James, 1-2-3 John, and Hebrews as forgeries. Oops! So much for sola scriptura!
3. Babylon is described as a city on seven hills. Ancient Rome was built on seven hills. Guess what? Vatican Hill wasn’t one of those seven hills. The Vatican is outside ancient Rome, in exile ... from Babylon.
4. There have been two great propigators of the myth that the pope is the whore of babylon: Luther and Ellen Gould White.
4a. Luther based his assertions on the evil and decadence he alleges he saw when he visited Rome. Of course, we know that he was a damned (I mean that literally) liar because he never discovered the somewhat obvious fact that the Vatican wasn’t in Rome.
4b. Ellen Gould White based hers on the lie that the Papal tiara had inscribed on it, “Vicarivs Filii Dei,” (Vicar of the Son of God) a phrase whose roman numerals add up to 666. Of course, liturgical Latin would say, “Vicarius Filii Dei,” which adds up to 661. And the pope has never had that title. The closest unofficial title he has ever had is “Vicar of the Son of Man.” That’s because the papacy claims to be the vicar of Christ in Christ’s human nature, not in his divine nature. Intriguingly, the Roman letters, using the Latin alphabet she chose, for eLLen goVLD VVhIte add up to... 666
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