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Rising Protestant tide sweeps Catholic Brazil
Washington Post ^ | May 3, 1977 | Todd Benson

Posted on 05/03/2007 12:50:55 PM PDT by siunevada

CARAPICUIBA, Brazil (Reuters) - For years, Ronaldo da Silva's daily routine consisted of drinking himself into a stupor until he passed out on a sidewalk.

Now he spends his days praying and singing with hundreds of fellow Christians at the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Carapicuiba, a sprawling shantytown on the outskirts of Sao Paulo where Pentecostal congregations are found on just about every block.

"I'd probably be dead or in jail if it weren't for this church," said da Silva, a 38-year-old former Catholic who claims God cured him of epilepsy and helped him straighten out his life when he converted to Pentecostalism a decade ago.

Conversions like da Silva's are increasingly common all over Brazil, where a boom in evangelical Protestantism is steadily chipping away at the supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church.

The trend, which is playing out all across Latin America, poses a major challenge for Pope Benedict, who arrives in Brazil on May 9 for a five-day visit largely aimed at blunting the decline of Catholicism in this continent-sized nation.

Although Brazil still has more Catholics than any other country in the world, with about 125 million, the percentage of believers that practice the Vatican's brand of Christianity has been dropping rapidly in the last three decades.

When the late Pope John Paul II visited Brazil in 1980, 89 percent of Brazilians identified themselves as Catholic. By 2000, when the last census was taken, the share of Catholics in the population had fallen to 74 percent.

The number of evangelical Protestants nearly tripled in the same period to 26 million, or about 15 percent of the population.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Charismatic Christian; History
KEYWORDS: catholic; pentecostal
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Comment #141 Removed by Moderator

To: rrc
ME: yes, it does mean universal,and when the phrase catholic was first used back in the first century, can you name me the one church that was around at the time?

Let's see...Who was the lone voice in the wilderness??? Who was the first universal preacher to call sinners to repentance...

You got a clue??? I'll give you one...It wasn't John the Catholic...

The apostle Paul said that there were many religious groups around then perverting the gospel and these groups were within the (John the Baptist) church...Preaching a different gospel...Which one of these perverted groups is the one you lay claim to???

142 posted on 05/04/2007 8:48:24 PM PDT by Iscool (OK, I'm Back...Now what were your other two wishes???)
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Comment #143 Removed by Moderator

To: rrc

Yes, the Body of Christ IS the church. It’s not a building or a denomination, it’s the totality of Christian believers.


144 posted on 05/04/2007 8:55:16 PM PDT by Marysecretary (GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL.)
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To: rrc

Yes, the Body of Christ IS the church. It’s not a building or a denomination, it’s the totality of Christian believers.


145 posted on 05/04/2007 8:55:19 PM PDT by Marysecretary (GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL.)
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To: mware

yes, but the Anglicans are really ticked off at them for the homosexual bishop and other gays in that church denomination.


146 posted on 05/04/2007 8:57:54 PM PDT by Marysecretary (GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL.)
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Comment #147 Removed by Moderator

To: rrc

the BRIDE of Christ is not just YOUR church, my Friend. It is the Body of Christ which Christ calls HIS church. It’s not a denomination or a building, it’s PEOPLE, HIS people.


148 posted on 05/04/2007 9:00:25 PM PDT by Marysecretary (GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL.)
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To: rrc
christ forgives your sins, but as the bible and historical evidence shows, the prescribed method is to the priest.

You are a little over 100% wrong...

Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

The throne of grace is not in your church nor any church you've ever been in...

There is no person or being that has set foot on the face of the earth that is, or ever has been in the person of Christ, except for the Holy Spirit...

So you have never confessed any of your sins directly to Jesus...You have not asked Him to forgive you, or save you???

149 posted on 05/04/2007 9:04:40 PM PDT by Iscool (OK, I'm Back...Now what were your other two wishes???)
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Comment #150 Removed by Moderator

To: rrc
So, if you can address the point, when the phrase catholic was first used and applied to the church, please tell me what church it referred to?

Catholic was a Latin word that had absolutely nothing to do with YOUR church...

Your church is not the church revealed to Paul the apostle...The word Catholic was not coined by any apostles or by God for that matter...When the word Catholic was coined, there were no popes, no priests in fancy robes, no worshipping of Mary, and on and on...

The Catholic church you attend didn't exist in the time of Jesus or the apostles...So what's in a name, eh???

151 posted on 05/04/2007 9:12:47 PM PDT by Iscool (OK, I'm Back...Now what were your other two wishes???)
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Comment #152 Removed by Moderator

Comment #153 Removed by Moderator

To: rrc
Like I said, the church that Ignatius called universal which in Latin means catholic, is not the universal church today which you guys call catholic...

It's kinda goofy anyway...Why would you use the Latin word for universal and connect it with the English word church??? Catholic isn't a Pronoun...It means universal...Why use the Latin??? The Latin is what was used by pagan Rome in those days...Did Ignatius use the Greek word for universal in his writings or the Latin??? Why would your church insist on using the pagan Latin word???

Ignatius says the church was universal...And you say your's is the Universal church...That makes you the same??? Surely you jest...

But to answer you question truthfully, your church wasn't any where near the fisrt church to be found...

1Co 11:22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

You want to eat crow in public, or private???

There was no Catholic in the time of the spostles...It was the church of God...Ignatius called that church of God universal and some perverters of the gospel a few centuries later invented the Catholic church (using a capital C instead of the appropriate small c)...

154 posted on 05/04/2007 9:53:25 PM PDT by Iscool (OK, I'm Back...Now what were your other two wishes???)
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To: OLD REGGIE; dangus
Please source your information. I just spent 20 minutes googling this and cannot find a single reference which supports your claim.

Catholic decline stabilizing in Brazil

155 posted on 05/04/2007 11:21:08 PM PDT by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: proud_2_B_texasgal; OLD REGGIE
I would be interested in sources too .. NYer?

I pinged you earlier to the thread on Dr. Francis Beckwith. Here are a few others.

One of America’s most respected Evangelical thinkers retraces the road that brought him into the Catholic Church.

And here is a lengthy list of notable converts.

LINK

156 posted on 05/04/2007 11:32:51 PM PDT by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: proud_2_B_texasgal

All my posts were in jest. I respect the Protestants believe me!


157 posted on 05/05/2007 1:35:42 AM PDT by napscoordinator (.)
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To: napscoordinator
All my posts were in jest.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, no wonder it sounded so, um, funny! LOL.. You should really warn a girl! DUH!

158 posted on 05/05/2007 4:27:57 AM PDT by proud_2_B_texasgal
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To: kawaii; Quix
how does that go about a lie repeated often enough?

"A lie repeated often enough becomes the truth." - G. Goebbels

Is Goebbels your mentor?
159 posted on 05/05/2007 8:40:02 AM PDT by OLD REGGIE (I am most likely a Biblical Unitarian? Let me be perfectly clear. I know nothing.)
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To: napscoordinator; proud_2_B_texasgal
But is it considered the body of Christ? I don’t believe so. We have specially blessed holy wafers. Doesn’t other religions just use bread?

And Jesus used bread. Of course you have a better way??????????
160 posted on 05/05/2007 8:42:26 AM PDT by OLD REGGIE (I am most likely a Biblical Unitarian? Let me be perfectly clear. I know nothing.)
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