Posted on 03/03/2013 9:33:32 PM PST by dangus
NY Times' op-ed contributor and Georgetown professor Paul Elie says the reign of Pope Benedict has been "all bad news, all the time." Really?
Vocations, globally, are up 70% since the mid-70s.
The number of diocesan priests is at an all-time, and growing faster the number of Catholics, or the global population.
The population of Catholics in the world is growing faster than the global population, (1.5% to 1.3% per year) despite being centered in industrialized nations. Conversions to the Catholic church are at an all-time high.
The number of students in Catholic high schools has doubled globally since the 1970s, the highest proportion of Catholics going to a Catholics high school since public education became ubiquitous in the modern world.
Pope Benedict's approval ratings among American Catholics (including "fallen away" Catholics) is 74%, and among all Americans is at 62%. When was the last time an American leader ever had an approval rating that high among Americans?
The number of religious (celibate) brothers is growing for the first time since Vatican 2.
Nonetheless, the number of permanent deacons is also still exploding.
The funny thing is this data is gathered by the Center for Applied Research into the Apostolate (CARA)... at Georgetown University. You'd think Elie would know of it.
SIDE NOTE: Georgetown University is paying a professor who is writing in the New York Times not only to disparage the Pope Emeritus, but also to call Catholics to leave the church. ("If the Pope Can Quit, Catholics Can, Too.") What does a guy have to do to lose professional respect, if not get fired?
Very good stats that disprove much of what is posted by others on FR. Thank you.
Good news ping!
Ordinations, 1975: 4,149
Ordinations, 2010: 6,863
Catholic students in secondary schools, 1970: 7,667,000
Catholic students in secondary schools, 2010: 17,794,000
Catholic population, 1970: 653 million
Catholic population, 2010: 1.196 billion
Parishes without a pastor, 1995: 60,705
Parishes without a pastor, 2010: 49,172
Deacons and brothers, 1985: 77,749
Deacons and brothers, 2010: 94,229
Diocesan priests, 2005: 269,762
Diocesan priests, 2010: 277,009
What is so impressive about the increase in the number of priests is that the number has included retired priests. Due to the surge in the priestly vocations in Europe in the middle of the 20th century, there has recently been a fantastic number of retirement-age priests. Those priests are dying off by the thousands, yet the number of new priests is so great that the total number is still increasing.
Outstanding!
Bookmarking this page.
I’m very eager to read CARA’s US seminary report coming out in the next couple of months, to see if data from last year represents a trend, or just a blip. If a trend, there may be an astounding rejuvenation among American priests. And vocations is always the truest measure of the health of the church.
Yes, **And vocations is always the truest measure of the health of the church.**
Growing in the Archdiocese of Portland Oregon!
Whenmy priest was ordained, there were only two of them. This year I believe we have a repeat of last year with nine ordinands each year. I had a broken foot last year and could not attend the ordinations, but hope to go this year.
Am not a Catholic but increases by the clergy or students enrolled in Catholic Schools is a blessing. Only church schools will bring this nation back through young people. What is being taught in public schools is shameful. God bless the parents for the financial sacrifice they are making.
Catholics are a democrat support group, they will be saving the pro-abortion democratic party.
Excellent news, thanks for this post.
I’m not a Catholic, but I always thought sending my kids to a Catholic school might be a good option. However, among my nieces and nephews, the two that attended Catholic schools both turned out homosexual and are *way* out on the Left end of the political spectrum. I got the impression that my niece’s school in particular was very focused on issues of “social justice.” When she entered that school she wasn’t an atheist, but she was by the time she finished. She’s on track to become the next HRC, but a good deal more radical. God help us.
Thanks be to God!
The good news is that, with a new Pope soon to be elected, give both John Paul II and Benedict XVI CREDIT where it is DUE, they have appointed bishops/cardinals who are a LOT more conservative. The house cleaning has begun!
A putative Catholic who would say something like this isn't a Catholic i.e. he quit long ago.
Is Georgetown still a Catholic school? There are a number of universities that were founded as Catholic institutions that stopped beng Catholic in the latter part of the 20th Century or just after that. See Notre Dame.
Only the twice a year Catholics {Christmas and Easter} are big demonRATS, the majority of Catholics that actually practice their Faith, vote conservative.
There are exceptions to that rule also { my friend Fr. ...., a very lib Priest is one of them}, but read the stats from the last two elections.
Oh, now you’ve done it! ansel12 knows all about the election stats. He brings them up all the time. The problem is that he misinterprets them too. He’ll note that more Catholics voted for Obama than against - but will never admit two things:
1) Protestants of various stripes greatly outnumber all the Catholics in the U.S. Protestants put Democrats in the White House each time they win.
2) The Catholics who vote for someone like Obama are really not faithful Catholics.
He will also go back long before Roe v. Wade and try to contend that Catholic support for Democrats 50 years ago translates into Catholic support for the modern pro-abort, pro-sodomy, pro-euthanasia Demoncrat [misspelling intentional] party.
If I had a nickel for every time I heard "they aren't real Catholics" I could release everyone in purgatory with the donation.
Very bad news?
Benedict began the awesome task of cleaning the stables, restoring the liturgy, knocking back the sodomites, reclaiming the Faith and transforming heterodox dioceses into faithful ones, removing the destroyers.
I can see how the NYT would think this was bad news!
I haven't heard of a single homosexual cardinal being relieved of his duties...What did I miss???
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