". . .gain the largest numbers of new illegal immigrants. . .
That seems appropriate somehow. 
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.”
But government handouts are a big yes-yes.
Not to worry. Barack Obama will fix their souls. /sarc
OHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo
Alex . . . OBVIOUSLY that CANNOT BE!!!!
I mean . . . with all the Baptists becoming RC priests . . . and all the Lutherans becoming Maryolaters . . .
the statistics MUST be wrong!
/sar
I hope you have your Hazmat suit on.
There seems to be a new crop of fiercely hostile RC reps ready to foam, throw dust in the air, parade about in sackcloth and ashes; froth; rush about in circles and the like. I hope your post doesn’t cause catatonic fits.
Ahhhh well, The Fourth of July is coming. Good fireworks practice . . .
It would be interesting to see what the percentages are in terms of what the RC reps are turning into.
My prayer is that all Catholics and all Christians would read the Bible more, grow deeper and deeper relationships with Christ, evangelize the non-Christians more, and get their faithful to realize that voting for the government supporters of abortionists is sinful.
= =
INDEED.
You tell me the church that’s survived 2,000 years, and I’ll tell you the church that will survive 2,000 more.
= =
WRONG!
. . .
1. It’s survived 1600 years.
2. It won’t survive another 1600 years any more than any other denomination will survive the END TIMES.
HINT—Christ is going to overhaul things BIG TIME.
More and more former Anglicans are showing up in Catholic congregations around here. The ones that are leaving are those who have found that regardless of kicking and screaming, the Pope stands firm. They must depart to find someone who will allow them to pretend that it is not necessary to repent and obey.
Approximately 94% of Christian homeschoolers remain in the faith after graduation from high school.
Approximately 90% of children sent to government schools will NOT remain in the faith! BUT...What is even **worse** is that those who do claim to be Christian are **NOT** Christian in their beliefs!
So?...Although my family and I are not Catholic I am **very** glad that we homeschooled! All of our children are active in our faith. They married in the faith. The only one who is not yet married only dates women active in our faith. My children are raising our grandchildren in the faith. My husband and I and all of our children and grandchildren living in various states throughout the nation will attend church today unless truly sick.
The choice is simple. Do you play Russian Roulette with your children’s souls or not? Homeschoolers are playing their best hand.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The following is from Dr. Bruce Shortt’s resolution to the Southern Baptist Convention 2002:
So, just what is the fruit of educating our children in public schools? Does that fruit show that those who make the “salt and light” argument are right? What is the fruit of their interpretation of “salt and light” theology? Consider a few of the consequences of our disobedience in the education of our children:
In 2002 the SBC’s Council on Family Life reported that roughly 88% of our children leave the church within 2 years after graduating from high school. It is reported by LifeWay’s Zan Tyler that Josh McDowell Ministries pegs the number who leave at 92%.3
Barna Research points out that while 86% of teens claim to be Christian and many are involved in church activities, the teens’ professions of Christianity and church attendance are deceiving. When the actual beliefs of our teens were surveyed, Barna research found, for example, that 60% believe salvation can be earned through good works, 53% (including 40% of evangelical teens) believe that Jesus sinned while he was on earth, only 1/3 said they were absolutely committed to Christianity, and only 9% of born again teens believe that there is any such thing as absolute moral truth. Should it be surprising, then, that Barna also finds that, based on survey data, only 4% of teens are actually evangelical Christians?
Based on many years of worldview testing of evangelical teens, the Nehemiah Institute has found that at most only about 15% of evangelical teens attending public schools clearly reject moral relativism and believe that absolute moral truth exists.
The results from the largest survey of teen religious attitudes and beliefs, the National Survey of Youth and Religion, have been written up in Soul Searching by the lead researcher, Dr. Christian Smith, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Smith points out that most teens profess whatever religion their parents claim, which, of course, means that the overwhelming majority of teens claim to be Christian. Nevertheless, the research also shows that, whatever they may claim to be, the overwhelming majority of “Christian” teens is absolutely incapable of articulating anything resembling the fundamental tenets of Christianity. According to Dr. Smith: “Many teenagers know abundant details about the lives of favorite musicians and television stars or about what it takes to get into a good college, but most turn out to be not very clear on who Moses and Jesus were.” For example, when asked what God is like, one typical teenager responded: “Um…Good. Powerful.” When asked if there was anything else, she responded: “Tall.” The book uses many examples like these from the study’s teen interviews to illustrate why they concluded that teens are unable to articulate even a simple account of Christianity or whatever else they may profess to believe. In fact, the researchers conclude that the actual “faith” of the vast majority of teens is something that Dr. Smith characterizes as “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” This is a creed that conceives of God as something of a “cosmic butler” who exists to get people out of problems and who has, perhaps, one commandment: “Be nice.” The researchers also found that many parents of the teens appear to hold to a similar faith, even though they may profess Christianity. Further, in the appendix to Soul Searching, Dr. Smith points out that his research shows churches and pastors barely register in terms of the forces that shape and influence the beliefs and values of children.
In light of the foregoing, perhaps it isn’t surprising that Dr. Thom Rainer has estimated that nearly 50% of the members of SBC churches may not be Christians. Obviously, our multigenerational lack of faithfulness in the education of children has created a multigenerational problem in our churches.
While multiple sources point to a catastrophic situation with respect to Christian children in general, what do we find when we examine Christian children who are receiving a Christian education either through Christian schools or homeschooling?
The Nehemiah Institute’s worldview testing shows that students in Christian schools reject moral relativism at a rate 500% higher than Christian children attending public schools. The same worldview surveys also show that children receiving a Christian education do better on worldview issues overall than their public school counterparts, with outstanding results typically coming from Christian schools that incorporate worldview materials in their curriculum and homeschooled children.
Children attending Christian schools or who are homeschooled demonstrate on average significantly higher levels of academic achievement than their public school counterparts.
In a recent academic study, homeschooled children were found to be significantly less likely than conventionally schooled children to watch MTV; use drugs; lie to a parent, teacher, or other older person; attempt suicide; drink enough alcohol to be legally drunk; or gamble. Homeschoolers were also significantly less likely to describe themselves as too busy, stressed out, angry with life, confused, or always tired.
Research by Dr. Brian Ray, founder of NHERI, found that 94% of all homeschooled children retained their faith into adulthood.
My prayer is that all Protestant and Catholic Christians will homeschool. That is the **best** predictor of whether or not their children will be Christian.
(please read post #28)
Christians can hope and pray or they can **actively** DO something about it! I think God favors the second action.
The **most** important and **urgent** mission field of any Christian is their OWN CHILDREN!!! The second most urgent mission field is the children of their own congregation!
It is astonishing to me! Christians send their children to government schools and the chances of that child being converted to the religion of atheistic Secular Humanism is nearly 90% !!!!! Why on earth would any thinking Christian ( Catholic or Protestant) DO THAT???
Please read post #28. If you want to to see Catholicism grow ( and I do!), **never** let a Catholic child darken the door of a Secular Humanist government school!
Mormons are continuing to have success in Utah with their children because their government schools are essentially church schools. Their principals and teachers are Mormon. It would be difficult for a non-Mormon teacher to get and keep a job without at least an outward conformity to Mormon standards. Also, the Mormon church has church “seminaries” next to every government high school. The Mormon children attend these seminaries for one period out of every school day.
Having a Mormon based education is a big part of the success that Mormons are having in retaining their youth, sending them on missions, and having them marry in the church.
I don’t know the stats for Mormon children outside of Utah, but if these kids go to U.S. government schools, I am willing to bet their retention rate for their youth isn’t any better than any other religion.
". . .gain the largest numbers of new illegal immigrants. . .
That seems appropriate somehow.
“The ones that are leaving are those who have found that regardless of kicking and screaming, the Pope stands firm.”
The Word of God is pretty firm as well.
The Church has lasted 2000 years since it’s founding by Christ, in an unbroken line. All attempts by Satan to wean people away has died like the rest of Satan’s creations: Arianism, Gnosticism, “reformed” groups — the only one still a threat is Islam and that is fighting itself.
Am certainly strongly in favor of homeschooling.
And even stronger in favor of NO REACTIVE ATTACHMENT DISORDER.
BOTH PARENTS MUST BE EMOTIONALLY BONDED AND CONNECTED TO THEIR CHILDREN WITH LOTS OF HEALTHY AFFECTION THE FIRST 6-8 YEARS OF THE KIDS LIVES . . . Solves tons of problems before they start.
Some good points.
Scripture says when Christ is lifed up, He will draw all men to Himself.
That’s a good focus.
Add in a congregation being loving, kind, humble and Biblical in behaviors from top down . . . hard to beat.
######
On a posting note . . . I think a lot of folks aren’t even awake without being tweaked . . . much less thinking with brains on and engaged. LOL.
Besides, I thought RC reps liked !!!!TRADITION!!!! LOL.
I persistently ponder the issue. For now, this is where I R.
RUBBER HISTORIES and sloppy shallow rationalizations
do NOT
=
truth.
The RC edifice has been around approximately 1600 years.
That’s the truth.
And that 1600 years has been a very, VERY checkered existence, (to be kindly putting it).
In other news...
THE SKY IS FALLING!
Actually, the sky isn't falling. That was just a joke. But, after careful study of the Bible, I know something even you don't know. And, that's why I'm building an ark.
God said no more water based global destruction.
This time, it’s by . . .
fire.
The only place to hide is IN HIS ARMS.
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