????? There are still twice as many Protestants as Catholics in this country. The only thing keeping the Catholic population at its current levels is all the illegal immigrants coming into this country. It is not a major shift from Protestant to Catholic, although anecdotal evidence for any claim is always available.
Besides... the article was mainly referring to Protestant preachers and theologians converting. Very few priests, and to my recollection zero bishops, have swun the Tiber the other way. And most of those priests were simply opting for less moral rigor (such as found in the Episcopalian church), not acting from a greater faith.
As for Richard Bennett’s books, they are pure rubbish. The videotape about the Inquisition claiming 50 million Protestants killed by the Inquisition should be your first tip off. (There were less than 3,000.) If his “witnesses” are real, why are so few unidentified? For complete impeachment of Bennett, consider his book claims 100,000 priests left the Catholic Church... which means that TWO hundred percent of them left. I guess they all left, came back, and left again?
Even if I conceded about the illegals, (which I don’t). How do you account for all the newcomers to Catholicism? A Catholic is a Catholic, whether they are in the country illegally or not. They are not re-baptized or re-confirmed, they would be considered Catholics, new to the parish, not new Catholics.
Our parish has increased by 25% in the 8 yrs I’ve been there and I’m pretty sure there is not one illegal alien but I haven’t checked their papers. Most of that increase is converts and re-converts. We are getting young parents by the dozen, they are realizing that they want their children to have the faith handed on to them.