This compares apples and oranges..
Catholics consider a baptized infant a a member .
Protestants churches do not offer membership to minors. There are membership requirements and a covenant between the church and member.
As you find with Catholics, membership and attendance are 2 different things ... Only about 20% of Catholics are actually attending or active in their church ..
Whereas in most Protestant churches less than 1/2 of those attending are members..
That is a huge difference in the way the statistics have to be looked at.. Our church has about 150 members but around 300 attending on a Sunday .
So a more accurate picture is attendance as opposed to membership
The Catholic faith is the only true faith. However, it is rare today to find a real Catholic who knows the faith and even rarer, that LIVES the faith. Numbers are meaningless, it will not convert anyone. Catholics really knowing the Faith and LIVING it will convert those of good will.
>>As you find with Catholics, membership and attendance are 2 different things ... Only about 20% of Catholics are actually attending or active in their church ..<<
That’s silly.
The number of Catholics who are active members of a parish are counted by the envelopes returned.
If one donates, one is counted as an active member. We don’t even have children’s envelopes.
It was the same way when I was attending a Presbyterian Church. If I didn’t return an envelope, even if it was empty, I was not counted as an active member. However, if I did turn in that envelope, my husband and children were counted as active members.
Each diocese have a “Bishop’s fund” where the parish is taxed per number of members they have. Less members, less money they pay. It goes without saying that the parish would eliminate inactive members from their books so as not to pay the larger amount.
More people are becoming Catholics and Mormons.
Less people are becoming Protestants.
Perhaps your infant theory has some merit. Protestants are aborting themselves out of existence.
Your expected response is a reason for me posting the article. Anti-catholics are quick to endorse any article indicating a decline in Catholicism but are equally quick to negatively spin any article indicating a growth in Catholicism. Don’t look now but your agenda is showing.