The myth is that the RC is “one church”. The reality is that doctrine preached from the pulpit varies greatly from parish to parish and archdiocese to archdiocese.
I see cultural catholics as those who attend frequently/regularly and are caught up in the rituals with no serious thought to the doctrine. Some culturals attend libertation theology and other non-orthodox RC churches. Others attend churches with nominal adherence to orthodoxy; but no life in the belief.
As for numbers and trends. The Catholic church in USA has acquired millions of immigrant members: The majority of Mexicans and a significant number of Koreans, Nigerians, you name it. So the number of native born Catholics leaving the church is actually very big and just happens to be offset by the immigrants.
Some of those leaving the Catholic Church are going to Protestant churches, including the mega-churches. They leave the Catholic church precisely because the religious preach liberation theology or liberation-lite. They return for their kids baptizm, first communion, etc.
Others leave the RC because it seems comatose if not dead. Not just on theology, but on many topics the religious are just so totally out of touch with reality. They tell us to vote Democrat for economic reasons. But the religious are ignorant of economics 101. They seem ignorant of what happens in business, and even in retail stores.
“The myth is that the RC is “one church”. The reality is that doctrine preached from the pulpit varies greatly from parish to parish and archdiocese to archdiocese.”
The Catechism is the same everywhere. What individual people do in opposition to it is their own work and has nothing to do with the universality of the Church.
“The Catholic church in USA has acquired millions of immigrant members:”
All churches in America have “acquired” immigrant members. Many churches in America are immigrant churches in a sense too.
“So the number of native born Catholics leaving the church is actually very big and just happens to be offset by the immigrants.”
True, and? By the way, my parish is the exact opposite. Almost none of the parishioners are immigrants and we are actually having very large families, bringing in converts, and no one is leaving the Church there either.
Go to a thriving Latin Mass parish. Your eyes will be opened. We are growing and growing and growing. When a nearby Protestant parish died we bought the building to use ourselves. We’ll soon be buying another because we can’t handle the numbers we have. My fellow parishioners are leaders in the local, state and regional pro-life movement. Our members host prayer groups and Bible studies and catechism classes. We feed the hungry. We help the poor. We’re able to do all this because we are faithful - flawed - but still faithful. I just said goodbye to one of our former parishioners who is moving to another state. We’ll miss him. He knows - especially as a former Protestant minister - he’ll never be able to find exactly what he had here.
I couldn't agree more. However, it may not be fair to pick on the Religious. Most citizens are ignorant of economics, as well. If they weren't they wouldn't vote for candidates who promise to redistribute income put heavy taxes and regulations on businesses.
In any case, though, I've long been convinced that priests and nuns should never be allowed near economic or military issues.