Posted on 03/01/2008 7:26:21 AM PST by Alex Murphy
WASHINGTON — In the marketplace of American faith, Catholicism is the big loser.
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.
Despite the loss, the survey shows that Catholics still represent nearly a quarter of the American population – just as surveys conducted in the early 1970s found.
So how does a religion lose so many members and continue to break even?
“It may well be that a factor in the Catholic numbers are the repeated waves of immigration,” said John Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum.
The study found that almost half of all immigrants coming into the U.S. are Catholics, most of them from Latin-American countries.
The wave of immigration is changing the make-up of Catholicism. Latinos represent 45 percent of all Catholics aged 18-29 years, while only accounting for 20 percent of Catholics aged 50-59.
Much of Catholicism’s loss can be chalked up to previous generations of immigrants assimilating into American culture and remaining less faithful to their ethnic identities and religions, Green said.
“That kind of assimilation is typical for any ethnic group,” said Mary Gautier, senior research associate at the Center for Applied Research and Apostolate, at Georgetown University. “And it affects all religions – not just Catholicism.”
Her research indicates the Catholic Church is positioned in a dynamic and vital place in time, Gautier said. But there are challenges to keeping the faithful in the pews. Intermarriages, dwindling numbers of priests, and insufficient church facilities are reasons why people might go elsewhere, she said.
The Rev. Allan Figueroa Deck, S.J., was not surprised by the study’s findings.
“The Church is falling behind,” said Deck, executive director of cultural diversity for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “We don’t have enough foot soldiers.”
The Church’s teachings are not out of place with the times, Deck said, but there is a shortage of priests and lay ministers to spread the word, and effectively link parishoners to the Gospel.
“It’s our mission to evangelize and we are failing that,” said Deck, explaining that the term ‘evangelize’ includes the “conversion of the human heart and the promotion of social justice.”
The Catholic Church also struggles to reach out specifically to the needs of minority communities, such as blacks, Asians and Hispanics, said Deck, who has spent his career in the Hispanic ministry. And the assimilation of immigrants into the Church and also American culture is a tricky balance, he said.
“We have to be very careful,” Deck said. “Our role is to promote the Gospel, not any particular culture – not even American culture.”
Excellent question. What do you think it means when Catholics say the Pope is infallible?
Only in certain pronouncements. Who has been giving you this faulty information?
I suspect that many RC edifice reps know the authentic history better than I do.
It’s just their biases that prevent enlightenment from the UNRUBBERIZED history.
Nonsense.
The Canon was essentially set early on.
It’s an abiding concern.
Short of specific direction from The Lord on it, I continue to try and do as I feel led.
There have been a LOT of wonderful RC edifice Believers who truly loved God above all else. More power to them.
No. I don’t believe I have.
But I used to read vast quantities of a wide range. I can’t be certain.
They are, finally, waking up to the fact that they can most certainly do without the organization of relegion.
They can keep their spirituality. The most certainly don't need the church imposed restrictions and silly manmade rules brought to them by the Italian curia.
Thanksfully, they are finally realizing this.
What do you think it means when Catholics say the Pope is infallible?
That he is never wrong.
“Only in certain pronouncements. Who has been giving you this faulty information?”
No one, just asking a question.
Sir,
the Pope can have opinions on the price of Bardolino in Rome, the war in Iraq and what he thinks the Cardinals will do next season, but when he is speaking “ex-cathedra” regarding the faith of Roman Catholics he is infallible.
That is what Roman Catholics believe and if they don’t: THEY ARE NOT CATHOLIC.
That is one of the things that got Luther tossed.
Lurking’
Ah but you are the one who made the accusation.
yeah, I’m an optimist sometimes.
Even some RC’s have recognized the truth about their history.
Au contraire, mon frere.
The Canon was essentially set early on.
Indeed it was. St Jerome's Latin Vulgate written around 400 A.D. was used as the canon until Martin "edited" it about a thousand years later. But hey, WE'RE the ones with "rubberized" history.
Okay. I would not believe that, either. If ANY Catholic tells you THAT, please tell them that they do not understand their own dogma regarding the Pope.
They can keep their spirituality. The(y) most certainly don't need the church imposed restrictions and silly manmade rules brought to them by the Italian curia.
Truly spiritual people embrace religion. It is only liberals who fantasize that they can be spiritual without religion. They tend to hate the fact that God actually DOES have rules.
So you cannot or will not name these wars of conquest initiated by the Pope(s)?
You tell me.
I don’t recall the names of such events.
My reading on that score was decades ago.
I’ve read enough on this thread, and haven’t replied until now, but have to say most of these posts are ridiculous and by uninformed non Catholics. And that’s fine, but arguing with people who have no clue about a certain issue tends to get tiring especially when said persons refuse to have an informed debate and resort to name calling and lies.
Any time I read and posted on threads primarily from the Mormon religion, something I know little about, most of the replies were at least civil. Catholics are civil too. That’s probably the reason we don’t protest must, fight those who discriminate against us daily. Probably the reason the media and low lifes think it’s ok to trash the Faith.
I don’t know what your Faith is or what your religious affiliation is, but from your posts I know it doesn’t matter. You certainly don’t represent it well.
You had the opportunity to teach and learn and did neither.
Just my 2 cents.
And now I know better than to even read any threads in the “religion” forum and to skip over any in the front page (at least the front page as it used to be, still working on the new format thing).
Hogwash.
RC Edifice reps, in my experience and in the experience of many I hold dear hereon
. . . have been the MOST personally assaultive and mean-spiritedly insulting and attacking of any folks I’ve encountered on the web or off in many years.
And relentlessly, repeatedly so.
My heart bleeds purple peanut butter.
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