Number of U.S. Catholics, deacons up; priests, religious down

Catholic News.com ^ | 7-16-04 | Jerry Filteau

[Salvation]

	CNS Story:
	KENEDY Jul-16-2004 (870 words) Number of U.S. Catholics, deacons up; priests, religious down By Jerry Filteau Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) -- New figures show the U.S. Catholic population continues to grow. The number of deacons serving them is on the rise, but the numbers of priests and religious brothers and sisters are down. The long-term slide in church marriages continues. The 2004 edition of the Official Catholic Directory showed some drop in the number of U.S. Catholic colleges, high schools and elementary schools and in the number of students attending them, but slight increases in the number of elementary and high school youths served by parish-based religious education programs. A Catholic News Service analysis of diocesan clergy figures showed nearly three out of every 10 diocesan priests in the country are now classified as retired, sick or on leave. Known in church circles as the Kenedy Directory for its publisher's imprint, the 2,300-page directory is an annual publication that provides detailed information about diocesan offices and Catholic parishes, schools, hospitals, religious houses and personnel in each U.S. diocese. It has statistical data on church life ranging from the number of baptisms and first Communions in the past year to the number of parishes, schools and hospitals and the number of patients treated in Catholic health facilities. The directory is published from offices in New Providence, N.J. The U.S. Catholic population at the start of 2004, according to the directory, was 67,259,768 -- an increase of some 850,000 over the 66,407,702 reported in 2003. Catholics continue to make up 23 percent of the total U.S. population. The directory's national figures include data from Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth, and U.S. territories overseas such as the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Guam. The number of priests declined slightly from 44,487 last year to 44,212 this year. Of these, 14,729 were members of religious orders and 29,483 were diocesan. The directory reported an increase in the number of permanent deacons, from 14,106 last year to 14,693 this year. The number of religious brothers was 5,504, or 64 fewer than last year. Religious sisters numbered 71,468, a decline of 3,212 from last year. The directory reported that there were 544 new ordinations to the priesthood in the past year -- up from 449 the previous year -- but the new figure was inflated by an erroneous recording of 61 ordinations in the Diocese of Lake Charles, La. That is the total number of diocesan priests there, and just this June Bishop Edward K. Braxton of Lake Charles wrote a pastoral letter on the impact of the vocations shortage, saying the diocese has not ordained a new priest in the past two years. The directory listed 19,431 parishes, down 53 from last year, and 2,910 missions, down 78 from last year. Missions usually offer limited services and are typically served by a priest of a neighboring parish. The nation's 583 Catholic hospitals served nearly 84 million patients last year and 376 other Catholic health care centers served nearly 4.3 million patients. Nearly 21.3 million people were served by the nation's 2,969 Catholic social service centers. In Catholic education: -- The 232 colleges and universities enrolled 747,060 students, down about 2,500 from the previous year. -- The 787 diocesan and parish high schools and 560 private high schools had a total of 680,323 students, down about 6,300 from the year before. There were 37 fewer diocesan and parish high schools than the year before, but eight more private schools. -- Enrollment declines were sharper in elementary schools. There were 6,488 diocesan and parish grade schools, down 285 from the previous year, and they served 1,796,275 students -- a drop of almost 77,000 from the year before. Private grade schools dropped from 369 to 365 and 95,742 students, about 2,800 fewer than the previous year. The number of students in religious education rose. At the high school level there were 771,730, about 4,000 more than the previous year. At the elementary level there were 3,612,510, almost 30,000 more than the year before. Despite the overall 3.2 percent enrollment decline in Catholic elementary and secondary schools, the number of Catholic school teachers rose 5.2 percent. The 2003 directory reported 171,814 teachers but the 2004 figure was 180,881, an increase of more than 9,000. Lay teachers, who number nearly 170,000, or 91 percent of the teaching force, accounted for more than 8,000 of the additional teachers reported in the 2004 directory. Surprisingly, however, the numbers of teaching priests, brothers, sisters and scholastics -- Jesuits in training -- all increased in the 2004 report. In all four of those categories the numbers have been generally in decline for at least three decades. There were 196 more priests in teaching (from 1,596 to 1,792), 174 more brothers (from 1,021 to1,195), 482 more sisters (from 7,389 to 7,871) and 24 more scholastics (from 33 to 57). During 1993 there were 985,141 infant baptisms, down about 20,000; 896,670 first Communions, down about 1,000; 645,426 confirmations, up about 8,000; and 232,060 marriages, down almost 10,000. - - -

[dangus]

"This is a depressing piece, very depressing, because what it means is that the Traditional Catholics are a tiny minority, overshadowed by the cafeteria Catholic bishops, joined at the hip deacons, and their minions."

Where do you get that from? Most young priests I know are very conservative compared to the Baby Boom priests of the Viet-Nam draft-dodger era.

Priests who went to seminaries in the 1950s and 1960s are the liberals. Priests since then fall squarely in two categories: Poofters and conservatives. It seems like it's conservatives whose numbers are growing, however.

[sinkspur]

In other words, there goes the neighborhood.

Only in the minds of a Raddie-Traddie would the increased membership in the Church be greeted as something negative.

[sinkspur]

Traditionalism among recent immigrants is squashed by apostate priests, who purposely make Spanish masses into "alleluia ministry" with the maximum amoutn of noise, screaming, gross disrespect, etc.

Where do you get the idea that "traditionalism" (at least the kind that is expressed on this forum) is widespread in Latin American countries?

It's practically non-existent.

[AlbionGirl]

I hope you're right, but I don't see that. What I took from this piece is that U.S. Catholic population in on the rise, deacons are on the rise, but vocations are not. I wouldn't mind if there were no such creatures as deacons at all, but I realize that's a pipe dream, so I'll leave it alone.

I believe your stat about younger Priests leaning more to the Conservative side, but I don't think the Catholic population is following suit. As I see it, current Catholics want a Catholicism that is easy, that is in line with what is accepted by secular society at large.

They want to be able to practice birth control, they want to be able to be divorced, and they secretly want abortion to stay legal should they find themselves in a jam. They'll worry about the jam, murder, God and damnation later, they still want the convenient out that is abortion. They won't admit it because they know its wrong, but society's embrace of it assuages their guilt and attenuates their bond to the Catholic proscription against it. Once gay unions become an accepted fact look for a replay.

The Catholic Church may yet turn itself around and remain true to its Cathechism, but that turnaround is a long, long way off, and if it is to be accomplished a fumigation and much extirpation is in order.

[tiki]

I know that when our parish is contacted we use the list of registered members. We update constantly and purge the roles of the people who have moved so we have a pretty accurate system. They don't all attend Mass every week and we have a lot who aren't registered in the parish but attend Mass regularly.

[sinkspur]

What I took from this piece is that U.S. Catholic population in on the rise, deacons are on the rise, but vocations are not.

The diaconate is a vocation to Holy Orders. Perhaps you're not up on the theology of Ordained Ministries.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

500 ordinations times 40 years is a rough number for predicting the future number of Priests at plateau if trends continue (the 40 years accounts for defections). That would be 20,000. However, there is reason to hope that the number will rise somewhat with no other actions taken. Current priests are being drawn from the "birth dearth"/"baby bust" population of 1972-1978. The low Catholc birth rate continued another ten years to 1988, then it rose about 10-15% over the next 15 years to the present.

I would predict a future steady-state rate of about 25,000 barring other actions.

Other noteworthy musings - the number of marriages is equivalent to about 52% of the number of Catholics born 25 years previously. Since 30% of those married in the Church are not Catholics, 85% of the 52% are Catholics, so 44% of Catholics roughly are getting married in the Church. This bears up fairly well against very long term American trends that have seen defections of about 1/6 of children baptized not receiving first communion and 1/3 of children baptized by not receiving confirmation - projecting the rates of defection out as an annual trend, you would only expect about 50% would come to marry in the Church.

On the bright side, the number of Baptisms versus marriages over the long term continues to rise. This is the first year since 1962 that there have been more than 4 baptisms for every Catholic marriage, 4.08 to be precise (the peak of the baby boom in 1958 saw 4.27 baptisms for each marriage). The cumulative 15 year average of Catholic Baptism versus Marriages is now 3.52, the highest number since 1971 (which was calculated based on the 1957-1971 cumulative totals). The previous peak of that number was 3.84 in 1966 and 1967. If present trends continue, that will be matched in 3 years.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Secondly: are they counting all the illegal aliens from Central & South America who are overwhelmingly Catholic? In NYC the number of legal US citizens who are church going Catholics is frighteningly small, compared with the vast numbers of the illegals from south of the border

Just 37% of Hispanics are registered Catholics (thus, about 14 million of them, or about 20% of all Catholics). Your perceptions are not congruent with reality.

Without registration, no baptisms or Church weddings or first communions or funerals, so the number is pretty accurate.

The number of registered Catholics in parishes in Hispanic neighborhoods in major cities bears out this assesment.

[thor76]

Your perceptions are not congruent with reality.
Oh really? Well, as any mass-goer in the NYC area can tell you, I am quite correct. The white catholic is a vanishing species - either he moved to the "burbs", or is staying home! Very few modernist priests actually care or bother to check if the applicant for baptism, marriage, funerals, etc. are actually registered parishioners. All the care about is the stipend! The Hispanics are the majority of pew sitters here. Now, perhaps you are quite correct that even though they come from "Catholic" countries, there are a lot of Hispanics who are not practicing Catholics here in the USA.
Perhaps one should consider the reality that many illegal aliens will not officially "register" with a local parish - or anything else - because they don't want to be deported!!!
I can think of quite a few parishes where the English masses (3 of them) get perhaps 100 people a piece, and the Spanish mass gets 300. We also have many parishes where the total Sunday mass attendance is 1500 or better, and virtually all of those are a) Hispanic, and b) most are illegal aliens.
If I were an illegal alien - working off the books for cash, why would I register with the parish for an annual tax deduction statement of my contributions........when I don't pay taxes in the first place???

[Hermann the Cherusker]

I was a Mass-goer in NYC for 5 years 1996-2001. The Churches I went to in Manhattan and Brooklyn had your typical white American Catholics. And the Priests I dealt with wouldn't allow you to receive Sacraments without proper paperwork.

[Salvation]

And then, you can always construe the statistics to mean what you want them to mean.

[Salvation]

**I agree with much of your assessment, Though, from personal experience, many pastors will inflate the figures to make themselves look better to their chancery offices.**

Why would they inflate these numbers when they have to pay stewardship on them?

[Salvation]

**It seems like it's conservatives whose numbers are growing, however.**

Agree with you here.

[Salvation]

I'm wondering if you are aware of the three levels of Holy Orders:
Diaconate
Priesthood
Episcopacy

Deacons are ordained right along with priests and bishops. Why are you so negative about them?

[thor76]

Why would they inflate these numbers when they have to pay stewardship on them?

Because they pay a "tax" to the diocese based upon the goss annual receipts of the parish, not based upon the number of active, enumerated parishioners! My friend - son't you get it yet: the priests LIE!!!!!

[thor76]

Perhaps you were lucky, and you had a good parish priest. Thank God for that! But for the most part they LIE about money and attendance! Would somebody please tell me why people believe that statistics provided by (largely) apostate priests would be in any manner true? Perhaps the parish you were in was one of the rare, properly administered ones. If so - good! BUT my story is true in most of the neighborhoods in which white people in NYC fear to tread - which is most of them!
And sir - I have been to many, many parishes there of a Sunday morning!!!

[Hermann the Cherusker]

You know, there are few neighborhoods in NYC I would not venture into. Most of those, like Bedford-Stuyvesant, have very, vey, very, few Catholics.

[dangus]

What I took from the piece is that the number of nominal Catholics is on the rise, but given the decreasing trend in Catholic marriages and Catholic-school students and vocations, the number of practicing Catholics is on the decline. At the same time, there is a trend reversal in vocations, and sharp increased in measures of lay participation; Given the scandals of the past couple years, this is remarkable.

The Church seems to be following Ratzinger's prediction: leaner and stronger.

[dangus]

Thanks for the stats on Hispanics. It confirms my observations: that a small portion of Hispanics are practicing Catholics. That said, I do think there are strong regional variations.

[dangus]

Thanks for the stats on Hispanics. It confirms my observations: that a small portion of Hispanics are practicing Catholics. That said, I do think there are strong regional variations.