[RFT1]

The growth of the Catholic church comes completely from immigration, both legal and illegal, also the Catholic church does not purge its membership files, even if someone has not sat in a pew in years.

[dangus]

Actually, the growth in the last two years was more than can be explained by immigration. And the Church *does* regularly purge its membership files. The reason some estimates of the number of Catholics are too high is because they often ask in surveys, "what religion are you," and former Catholics will frequently answer Catholic long after they have left the faith, or taken up a new one (as in Presybterian Wesley Clark, New Age freak Dennis Kucinich or apostate John Kerry.)

Mind you, this survey does not measure church *attendance,* only membership. I do suppose attendance has dropped; it dropped drastically, for instance, in the 1970s. But it is still noteworthy if the Catholic Church is gaining members faster than she loses them even in the present crisis; it means that there are people out there reaping a harvest!

Likewise, one can be misled reading that seminary enrollment is at an all-time high, but it is nonetheless a positive sign that the long, devestating collapse in vocations has finally turned around.

[tiki]

I beg to differ. There is not one immigrant in our OCIA class and it has 14 people in it and there has not been one immigrant in it since I have attended this Catholic Church.

I work in the office and the files are purged constantly. If anyone received any of the Sacraments at our church it is on file and will remain on file but our membership contains only those who have filled out a membership form in our parish. It doesn't contain those who left the church, left town, or died and if anyone asked what our membership was it would be correct within 1 to 2 percent either way.

I would imagine that most parishes are operated this way.

[fidelis]

This assertion is so laughable, it almost doesn't dignify a serious response. If I were desperate to to discredit Catholicism and take a swipe at illegals, I'd use this.

[Cronos]

The growth of the Catholic church comes completely from immigration, both legal and illegal, also the Catholic church does not purge its membership files, even if someone has not sat in a pew in years.

Not really. There are many folks, including quite a few here on FR who have found Christ in Christ's church. The growth in The Church is due to more people finding God's word