Posted on 11/13/2014 1:35:24 PM PST by SeekAndFind
A new Pew survey found that Latin American Catholics are increasingly leaving the Catholic Church, either to join evangelical Protestant churches or are abandoning religion altogether. The survey participants cited a search for a personal connection with God as the biggest reason for their shift.
The wide-ranging survey, released on Thursday, reported that although 69 percent of adults across the region identify as Catholic, in almost every country surveyed there was a reported net loss of Catholics in terms of people raised Catholic and currently Catholic. Overall for Latin America as a whole, 84 percent of the population was raised Catholic, but only 69 percent identify as part of the Catholic Church now. By contrast, only nine percept of Latin America's population was raised in the Protestant tradition, but today 19 percent identify as Protestant. The number of religiously unaffiliated people is also rising, going from four percent raised without religion to currently eight percent identifying as no religion today.
As for various reasons why Latin Americans are leaving the Catholic Church, 81 percent of those who responded said that they are seeking a personal connection with God; 69 percent said they enjoy the style of worship at a new church, while 60 percent said that they wanted a greater emphasis on morality.
"Much of the movement away from Catholicism and toward Protestantism in Latin America has occurred in the span of a single lifetime. Indeed, in most of the countries surveyed, at least a third of current Protestants were raised in the Catholic Church, and half or more say they were baptized as Catholics," Pew pointed out.
Pew also highlighted that although Pope Francis has drawn much attention since his appointment in March 2013, only in his home country of Argentina, as well as in Uruguay, do the majority of ex-Catholics express a favorable view of the pope. In the other Latin American countries, only roughly half of ex-Catholics have a favorable view of the pontiff.
Uruguay has also been identified as having the largest percentage of religiously unaffiliated adults in Latin America, with close to 37 percent of its population. That number varies considerably across the region, with Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay all having less than 5 percent religiously unaffiliated people.
Young Hispanics in the United States have also been leaving the church and joining Protestant denominations according to reports. A Boston College study released earlier this year found that 59 percent of priests who serve Hispanic communities are older than 55, creating a generational gap.
"There are very few efforts in the Catholic Church to reach out to Hispanic youth, that's a major red flag for our institution because more than 55 percent of Catholic youth in the U.S. are Hispanic. If the Church doesn't reach out to this generation, we're going to risk losing them," Hosffman Ospino, an assistant professor of theology and ministry at Boston College and lead author of the report, told The Christian Post at the time.
“They have a symbolic gesture, but they do not have the True Presence.”
Every believer, who has entrusted themselves to Christ for salvation has HIS real presence indwelling them and does not need communion to accomplish that. We celebrate it for the reasons He gave - doing it in memory of Him.
I agree. Glorify The Father. That’s what I believe Jesus was doing. He was a 1st Century Jew who proclaimed adherence to Torah.
Ethical monotheism is the key to my life.
Have you read these verses? Peter is made the first Pope here.
We've read a lot more than those couple of verses...You should try it yourself...A couple of random verses does not a church make...
Isa 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
They knew way back in the Old Testament that Jesus was the rock on whom the church would be built...Jesus was/is the foundation...Peter was never the foundation of anything...
And what's more, if Peter was a pope, Paul was more-so...
Rom 15:16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
Is the Catholic Church a Gentile Church or a Jewish Church??? Paul is our minister, NOT Peter...
OH YES THERE IS...
“Ethical monotheism is the key to my life.”
By “ethical monotheism” do you mean non-trinitarianism? I don’t want to say “unitarianism”, since that word is pretty tainted.
Not true..All of us Christians have the True Presence...We just don't get it by eating a 'Chicken in a Biscuit'...
If you want to stop abortion then get Catholics to vote like Protestants, and especially like Evangelicals.
The Pope is a Jesuit and the first of his order (in existence for close to 500 years!)
EVIL is on the attack.
Thanks for the teaching moment. Unlike the Protestant world, where a "church" can be as small as one man with a Bible and an opinion, the Catholic faith is not defined by what "any two individuals" believe. The Catholic Church is a "top down", not a "bottom up" organization.
Therefore, irrespective of what individuals who call themselves Catholic believe, the Catholic Church proclaims one faith. For all time. It's right HERE.
If "any two Catholics" can't assent to this teaching, they're not, in fact, Catholic.
Glad I could help.
Not really relevant to what I was responding to.
But it is interesting, Jesuits are evil? The Pope is evil?
The Pope is under attack by Propagandists.
Do you not know the Jesuits?
They are the soldiers of Christ begat in response to Luther.
Yes I know about the Jesuits, I just don’t know your opinions about everything and which Catholics are evil and such.
Rather, while such a response is to be expected from RCs (even though the Vatican's own survey confirms what others have been saying for years), it is your utter dismissal based upon what you learned in some college that is hooey. While stats and conclusions from them can be misleading, there are many many types of surveys of varying quality. And while an error rate of around 5% is typically allowed, and could be much more depending on the type and quality of the survey to dismiss all surveys, and this one in particular, as hooey is absurd.
Much research has been evident in the issues this survey deals with, that of demographics and views, and like other findings regarding Catholics and evangelicals, this one is consistent other research, and which overall comes to the same basic conclusions.
Even a survey commissioned by the Vatican itself (which has its own shortcomings) - which reportedly served as the blueprint for October’s Synod of Bishops - confirmed what other ones have been saying for years. (http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_doc_20140626_instrumentum-laboris-familia_en.html)
The first-ever survey of 114 bishops’ conferences around the world found that many Christians “have difficulty” accepting church teachings on key issues such as birth control, divorce, homosexuality and cohabitation. - http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/vatican-confronts-shifting-landscape-on-family-issues/2014/06/26/9573a30a-fd61-11e3-beb6-9c0e896dbcd8_story.html
The Vatican had asked dioceses to glean responses from priests and lay people, including on the challenges to church teaching and tradition posed by widespread divorce, remarriage, co-habitation and out-of-wedlock children as well as gay marriage and parenthood...
At least 80 percent of couples seeking marriage from the church are already living together, he wrote. "There is hardly any shyness in stating to the priest their living arrangements," Bishop Zubik wrote, adding that co-habitation is growing even among senior citizens...
Bishop Zubik acknowledged that many Catholics see nothing wrong with using artificial contraception and following secular views that see pregnancy as a "disease ... rather than participation in the generative love of God." - http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2014/02/28/Catholic-sexuality-survey-finds-dissension/stories/201402280087
Yet the Catholic Herald warned (http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2014/04/15/publishing-the-results-of-the-family-survey-would-mean-defying-the-pope-says-spokesman-for-bishops-of-england-and-wales/) releasing the responses to the family synod questionnaire waa defying the Pope’s wishes,
A version of the Vatican survey on Family Life prepared by the Association of Catholic Priests for Ireland can be seen here: http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/ACP-Family-Life-Synod-survey-analysis-edited.pdf Moreover,
Evangelical Protestantism is now the second leading religion in Brazil, according to the 2000 census. The followers of the different denominations have grown from nine percent of the population in 1991 to 15.1 percent, while the proportion of Catholics has dropped from 83.7 percent to 73.7 percent. The Pope himself has called on Catholic church leaders in Latin America to “pay special attention to the problem of the sects,” as the Catholic church refers to the evangelical Protestant churches. -
And the Vatican's own survey and that of multitude others basically is consistent one reported by NCR that was conducted in November and December 2013 by 15 progressive Catholic organizations of survey reports on 16,582 respondents from across the United States. Quantitative and qualitative responses were analyzed by Dr. Peter J. Fagan from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
While results of the survey's quantitative questions were in the main consistent with similar studies by the Pew Forum, CARA and international bishops' conference reports, some of the key findings are worth emphasizing.
Divorce and remarriage
Marriage equality and ministerial outreach to LGBT Catholics
This survey asked more in-depth questions about LGBT issues than other surveys. The findings are worth reporting since they suggest there is more acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples at the parish and small faith community levels than at the diocesan level.
Responsible parenthood and family planning
A 15-page report of both qualitative and quantitative findings and an 81-page report of randomly selected written responses in English and Spanish are downloadable at mycatholicfamily.org.
What Pew says about its own reliability is this:
Q. How accurate are the statistics derived from Pew Research polls when applied to the population of the United States?
The accuracy of polls can be judged in different ways. One is the degree to which the sample of the public interviewed for the poll is representative of the whole population. For example, does the poll include the proper proportions of older and younger adults, of people of different races, or of men and women? Another standard for accuracy is whether the poll’s questions correctly measure the attitudes or relevant behaviors of the people who are interviewed. For both of these ways of judging accuracy, Pew Research’s polls do very well. We know that key characteristics of our samples conform closely to known population parameters from large government surveys such as the U.S. Census. Similarly, our final polls in major national elections have a very good track record of measuring intended behavior because they accurately predict the election results (we came within one percentage point of predicting the margin of victory for Barack Obama in 2008, and Republican candidates for the U.S. House in 2010).
To improve the accuracy of our polls, we statistically adjust our samples so that they match the population in terms of the most important demographic characteristics such as education and region (see our detailed methodology statement for more about how this is done). This practice, called weighting, is commonly used in survey research. - http://ncronline.org/blogs/simply-spirit/underreported-survey-responses-synod-family-valuable-tool-vatican
But since it is top down, then you are not to engage in interpreting her, but follow Rome as she interprets herself, and which V2 manifests she can do, even if conservative sects dissent from it in part. Yet they interpret themselves as being the Real RCs.
And in addition to what V2 states, what one really believes is manifest by what they do. (Ja. 2:18) And contrary to you and other trad, type RCs excommunicating liberals, Rome continues to treat even proabortion, prosodomite, promuslim pols and supporters as members in life and in death, and showing what she really believes.
And as .".the one duty of the multitude is to allow themselves to be led, and, like a docile flock, to follow the Pastors," (VEHEMENTER NOS) so you should follow their overall interpretation.
I mean Torah is key to my life, even if I ain’t Jewish.
One God is enough for me. And that kicks out the devil too.
The job of "Rome" is not to "interpret" anything.
It is to safeguard the faith intact, handed down from the Apostles.
"Rome" does not have a license to invent, innovate or create.
When conservatives "dissent" from pronouncements emanating from Rome, they are not following their own, latter day, self-authored theology like the latest off-shoot of the local storefront. Rather, they are comparing Rome's current position with 2,000 years of apostolic tradition and history. They are comparing current theology with the teaching of saints, apostles, Church Councils, Popes and Doctors of the Church.That's the anchor which keeps us moored.
"Top down" means that Rome's hands are tied to 2,000 years of teaching coming from Jesus and handed on to the Apostles.
“Wanted greater emphasis on morality”-—60%
Interesting. Shows the difference between morality on paper vs. what is viewed in practice.
Don’t forget the red shoes.
Indeed. The Jesuit induced liberation theology may just be backfiring.
61% stated style of worship. As raised as a Roman Catholic in a devout family worship was 35-60 mins depending on the speed of the priest. One had it down to under 30 mins. You could set your watch to it and some did.
In an Evangelical and Baptist church the “style of worship” is a much longer time. 60-90 mins (as the Holy Spirit moves the worship service) for the worship service with the Lord’s supper; about a 15-20 min break then Sunday school for the youngsters and for the adults sit for the Gospel hour/sermon; all followed by a fellowship time in the basement. All lasts to about 1:30pm. The remainder of the day is family time. Then most come back for the evening scripture study.
On Mondays the ladies meet for Bible study. Tuesday’s are fellowship Sermons for all. Wednesday night is usually the time for elders (men who have jobs and are not paid to preach) to conduct church business; Thursday is men’s Bible study.
So that is the “style of worship” these Latinos are flocking to.
Not for the timid of heart.
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