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Posted on 02/19/2010 6:09:48 AM PST by NYer
U.S. membership has increased in the Catholic Church — the nation's largest Christian body — but the No. 2 Southern Baptist Convention, along with most mainline Protestant denominations, reported continuing decline, according to new figures released by the National Council of Churches.
Both the Southern Baptists and Catholics reported membership losses in last year's Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches; in the 2010 edition, however, the Catholics reported a rebound, with a 1.5 percent growth rate, to more than 68 million members.
Southern Baptists held on to the No. 2 spot, at 16.3 million members, but that figure represented a 0.2 percent drop from 2009 and the second consecutive year of decline. The Presbyterian Church (USA) experienced the greatest loss among the top 10 denominations (3.3 percent), down to 2.8 million members.
The NCC's annual Yearbook is regarded as one of the most reliable recorders of church membership in North America. The figures, from 2008, are the most recent compiled. However, 11 out of the 25 largest churches did not report updated figures.
The Rev. Eileen W. Lindner, editor of the Yearbook since 1998, said many experts cite “an increasing secularization of American postmodern society, and its disproportional impact on liberal religious groups” as the cause of decline in some American churches.
Jack Haberer, editor of the independent Presbyterian Outlook magazine, said the trend has been long in coming. Jack Haberer, editor of the independent Presbyterian Outlook magazine, said the trend has been long in coming.
“Baby boomers who are also Christians, in general, have been drawn more to churches that are more informal, less institutional and more rock 'n' roll-ish,” Haberer said. “Presbyterians and other mainline denominations have been very slow in reading those trends and thinking through a way to accommodate without
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
The Catholic “Come Home” ad is very effective.
I’m supposed to go down on Sunday, with the rest of my RCIA class, to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, where all the incoming new Catholics from the Washington DC area will take part in a rite that is part of our admission to the Roman Catholic Church. I’m amazed to realize that most of the nave of that huge building will be filled with candidates and catechumens, nearly two thousand of them, just from the local area. Another such ceremony will take place the following weekend because we can’t all fit in a building with a capacity of 2200. And the same thing is taking place at the same time, all over the world. Amazing how many people are joining the Church. Something’s going on.
We can do better. Plus, the numbers are less important than how well catechized those 68 million are. We have a long way to go on that front.
Does anyone else see the contradictions here? "Let's attract Christians by becoming more secular!"
We keep telling people that Catholic membership is up, but they don’t believe us.
Are their stances on life and death or homosexuality issues affecting this?
Hmmmm
We welcome you home with open arms and many blessings!
Wow! Very heartwarming post. Thank you for sharing it!
What a splendid way to be welcomed into the Church!
(We came in sort of sideways, as it were, so we were received and confirmed in the little St. Mary's Chapel, just us, the kids (to be confirmed later), Monsignor, and the Sunday School supervisor who acted as our sponsor. No less meaningful or effective -- but a bit less spectacular.)
On an absolutely unrelated subject, my poor T'bred mare turned up incurably unsound - at age 27. After living for about a year in a friend's pasture (where she was not particularly happy in cold weather after her life of luxury in a box stall) we found her a berth with the Special Olympics, where she is once again ensconced in indoor comfort with blankets, a fan, and a horde of little adoring children.
I’ve seen some of those ads, specifically the ones created for the Diocese of Phoenix under Bishop Olmsted. They are incredibly powerful.
I’m glad your mare has found a happy home and is doing well for the Special Olympics kids. My now-18-year-old AQHA gelding had the same issue and was also given to a camp that teaches Special Olympics and autistic kids as well as wounded veterans. However he did NOT take to the surroundings and put some kids on the ground, so he was promptly sent home in disgrace. He has no work ethic and prefers doing nothing except eating grass and snarking with jealousy at the little OTTB mare. I am apparently not allowed to be unfaithful to him with other horses. ;-)
Thank you for the post and ping! Those are truly remarkable numbers .. and all from just the DC area. Indeed, something beautiful is going on. As freeper "stars & stripes forever" commented, the Catholics Come Home commercials, have been very effective. No doubt another contributing factor, is the confusion among the various protestant denominations, which continue to split and divide.
Please post a follow up to this Sunday's event. My prayers continue for you and your family.
Praise God, it could be because God is bringing about the starts of full Christian unity.
I think people can feel something is coming on the way.
Welcome home BTW! I did that myself back in 2005 before Pope John Paul passed away.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit, who wants Christian believers to come back to full unity.
Welcome To The Church!
The fastest growing creed in the US, FWIW, is the unchurched/nonreligious.
See post #4.
This mare is perfect for this job (in fact my trainer was using her for the Special Olympics long before she went lame). She is pretty as a picture - I used to win Conformation Hunter with her in C shows. Because grade horses tend to be calmer, a lot of the SO horses look like they were just unhitched from a plow, and the kids are a little disappointed because they were expecting Black Beauty. Now they have her. And she is so laid back that even with papers I wonder if her daddy was really the teaser stallion or something. And she LOVES children and LOVES to be petted and fussed over, she's just really a big old lap dog (maybe her daddy was a Golden Retriever?)
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