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Faithful Catholics Returning to Humane Vitae?
The Annual Catholic Directory Years 1944-2003
| 7/10/03
| Me
Posted on 07/10/2003 7:10:39 PM PDT by Hermann the Cherusker
Year |
Infant Baptisms |
Marriages |
Cuumlative Baptisms |
Cummulative Baptism |
Cummulative Baptisms/Marriage |
Annual Baptism/Marriage |
Ratio of Catholics Married In Church |
1943 |
722434 |
289548 |
|
4699880 |
3.14 |
2.45 |
1.12 |
1944 |
710648 |
249140 |
14770410 |
4725321 |
3.26 |
2.83 |
1.17 |
1945 |
705557 |
245261 |
15404338 |
4796173 |
3.34 |
2.88 |
1.21 |
1946 |
705557 |
245261 |
16012434 |
4870393 |
3.42 |
3.01 |
1.18 |
1947 |
738314 |
345772 |
16659248 |
4937943 |
3.49 |
2.62 |
1.13 |
1948 |
907294 |
394593 |
17243217 |
4903826 |
3.60 |
2.38 |
0.90 |
1949 |
937208 |
373191 |
17658238 |
4838683 |
3.73 |
2.53 |
0.82 |
1950 |
943443 |
338512 |
18031443 |
4817950 |
3.81 |
2.88 |
0.78 |
1951 |
973544 |
328317 |
18362938 |
4836438 |
3.84 |
3.10 |
0.72 |
1952 |
1018303 |
319846 |
18580236 |
4869050 |
3.84 |
3.37 |
0.67 |
1953 |
1077184 |
303444 |
18701181 |
4920359 |
3.80 |
3.61 |
0.63 |
1954 |
1094872 |
303187 |
18719169 |
5022707 |
3.73 |
3.83 |
0.63 |
1955 |
1161304 |
313652 |
18711155 |
5136791 |
3.63 |
3.84 |
0.60 |
1956 |
1204982 |
324907 |
18638314 |
5249448 |
3.52 |
3.95 |
0.59 |
1957 |
1284534 |
325249 |
18488265 |
5341465 |
3.40 |
4.02 |
0.54 |
1958 |
1307666 |
314989 |
18178802 |
5431703 |
3.27 |
4.27 |
0.53 |
1959 |
1344576 |
319992 |
17787700 |
5523622 |
3.14 |
4.11 |
0.51 |
1960 |
1313653 |
319481 |
17319430 |
5588659 |
3.02 |
4.23 |
0.53 |
1961 |
1352371 |
312811 |
16900769 |
5638311 |
2.91 |
4.23 |
0.51 |
1962 |
1322283 |
311655 |
16433323 |
5677977 |
2.82 |
4.24 |
0.52 |
1963 |
1322315 |
329450 |
16001717 |
5707651 |
2.73 |
3.98 |
0.51 |
1964 |
1310413 |
352458 |
15575553 |
5718690 |
2.65 |
3.62 |
0.52 |
1965 |
1274938 |
357000 |
15175646 |
5711753 |
2.60 |
3.34 |
0.53 |
1966 |
1190842 |
360929 |
14844340 |
5705498 |
2.57 |
3.16 |
0.56 |
1967 |
1139248 |
371155 |
14636084 |
5697944 |
2.54 |
2.95 |
0.57 |
1968 |
1095172 |
405792 |
14461885 |
5674234 |
2.53 |
2.68 |
0.58 |
1969 |
1086858 |
417271 |
14341730 |
5616415 |
2.53 |
2.61 |
0.56 |
1970 |
1088463 |
426309 |
14202540 |
5545117 |
2.54 |
2.47 |
0.56 |
1971 |
1054933 |
416924 |
14067400 |
5467108 |
2.55 |
2.34 |
0.57 |
1972 |
975071 |
415487 |
13954365 |
5392624 |
2.58 |
2.21 |
0.59 |
1973 |
916564 |
406908 |
13917241 |
5318759 |
2.62 |
2.15 |
0.60 |
1974 |
876306 |
385029 |
13946980 |
5248766 |
2.69 |
2.32 |
0.61 |
1975 |
894992 |
369133 |
14115008 |
5205093 |
2.76 |
2.40 |
0.60 |
1976 |
884925 |
352477 |
14367992 |
5172605 |
2.83 |
2.53 |
0.58 |
1977 |
890677 |
341329 |
14663774 |
5152596 |
2.90 |
2.63 |
0.54 |
1978 |
896151 |
340489 |
14966219 |
5137056 |
2.94 |
2.67 |
|
1979 |
910506 |
345521 |
15106117 |
5111954 |
2.98 |
2.73 |
|
1980 |
943632 |
350745 |
15225305 |
5071818 |
3.02 |
2.80 |
|
1981 |
982586 |
353375 |
15310954 |
5023992 |
3.06 |
2.73 |
|
1982 |
965049 |
347445 |
15372672 |
4971199 |
3.11 |
2.81 |
|
1983 |
975017 |
347973 |
15448460 |
4912347 |
3.15 |
2.72 |
|
1984 |
947668 |
345973 |
15486880 |
4838074 |
3.22 |
2.76 |
|
1985 |
953323 |
348300 |
15561226 |
4759618 |
3.29 |
2.70 |
|
1986 |
941898 |
342440 |
15639146 |
4680352 |
3.36 |
2.74 |
|
1987 |
937947 |
341622 |
15704964 |
4594475 |
3.43 |
2.77 |
|
1988 |
946303 |
336915 |
15772507 |
|
|
3.10 |
|
1989 |
1044334 |
341356 |
|
|
|
3.36 |
|
1990 |
1147976 |
336645 |
|
|
|
3.51 |
|
1991 |
1180707 |
332468 |
|
|
|
3.59 |
|
1992 |
1193122 |
325789 |
|
|
|
3.18 |
|
1993 |
1036049 |
315387 |
|
|
|
3.26 |
|
1994 |
1029694 |
305385 |
|
|
|
3.37 |
|
1995 |
1029281 |
302919 |
|
|
|
3.45 |
|
1996 |
1044304 |
300582 |
|
|
|
3.46 |
|
1997 |
1040837 |
288593 |
|
|
|
3.51 |
|
1998 |
1013437 |
273700 |
|
|
|
3.73 |
|
1999 |
1022014 |
267517 |
|
|
|
3.85 |
|
2000 |
1031243 |
269034 |
|
|
|
3.75 |
|
2001 |
1007716 |
256563 |
|
|
|
3.92 |
|
2002 |
1005490 |
241727 |
|
|
|
|
|
The data above are from the Annual Catholic Directory of the United States and Canada. The data is for all American Catholic dioceses, including the eastern rite jurisdictions.
Column 1 is the year of the data (the data for the previous year appears in the Catholic Directory of any given year). Column 2 is the number of Baptisms for that year. Column 3 is the number of Marriages for that year. Column 4 is a 15 year moving total of Baptisms. Column 5 is a 15 year moving total of Marriages. Column 6 is the ratio of Column 4 to the previous years Column 5. Column 7 is the ratio of Column 2 to the previous years Column 3. Column 8 is the ratio of twice Column 2 25 years later to Column 1 of that year. |
TOPICS: Catholic; History; Moral Issues; Religion & Culture; Religion & Politics; Religion & Science
KEYWORDS: baptism; birthcontrol; catholiclist; contraception; humanevitae; marriage
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To: Onelifetogive
I answered all those arguments you mentioned. They are not persuasive to me at all and have no backing in the data. None of them explain the sudden change in 1989.
To: Hermann the Cherusker
I answered all those arguments you mentioned. They are not persuasive to me at all and have no backing in the data. None of them explain the sudden change in 1989.Your statement was that there were "no other possible conclusions." Whether you find those conclusions persuasive or not does not refure the fact that there are other possible explanations!
To: Hermann the Cherusker
None of them explain the sudden change in 1989.To characterize a return to Humane Vitae as a "sudden change" also seems like quite a stretch.
To: Maximilian
Converts often have the most enthusiasm. But they don't have the deep-down intuition about the real meaning of the faith which is not intellectual and often not even spoken. Enthusiasm unbridled by humility can be destructive.Good advice. Although I try to earnestly contend for the Faith, I strive to remain humble while doing so. At the beginning of my catechism studies, I told my Godfather(-to-be) that since I was not a cradle Catholic, I felt unworthy to become one. I'm always reminding the young adults in my Church how blessed they are to have been born into a Traditional Catholic family. Everything they have had ingrained into them since birth, I have to - or am learning at 33.
64
posted on
07/11/2003 4:54:25 PM PDT
by
Possenti
To: Desdemona
That somewhat depends on the genes. One of my great-grandmothers had six after 35, in six years, and the great-great grandmothers on the other side had four and five after 35. It's never a guarantee, but when one is dealing with God, anything is possible. You bet. My Nonna had her last baby at 45. Not ideal, but she didn't marry until age 33. She had seven pregnancies.
To: Desdemona
I'm thinking that there are other factors in the infertility we don't know aboutYes, there are. STDs, abortion, etc all decrease fertility. I've seen women in their 20s have difficulty getting pregnant. Age does matter but not as much as some think.
To: Canticle_of_Deborah
Nutrition is also fairly important - and has been somewhat ignored.
To: Desdemona
I have read a theory (and I emphasize it's just a theory) in a medical research study IIRC which hypothesized that women who use birth control for a long period of time somehow condition their bodies against pregnancy. The idea was that the excessive birth control created some kind of immunity or immune response against pregnancy. I wish I could recall where I read it but it was very interesting.
To: Canticle_of_Deborah
Moral of the story - stick with God's plan.
To: Possenti
Everything they have had ingrained into them since birth, I have to - or am learning at 33. My money is on the fact that as a convert you know more about your faith than most cradle Catholics know or knew at aged 33. I'm trying hard (at age 44) to think of anyone my age who had faith ingrained into them at all.
To: Desdemona
And I never heard of anyone on their deathbed lamenting the fact that they had too many children.
To: Onelifetogive
A possible explanation must be plausible, else it is not truly an explanation. Given that immigration has been steady throughout and illegitmacy has held steady or gone down, these cannot be seen as reasonable explanations for a sudden 25% rise in baptisms per marriage in a two year period.
To characterize a return to Humane Vitae as a "sudden change" also seems like quite a stretch.
To me, the most satisfactory answer is that younger married couples today are more likely to follow the teaching of the Church. This agrees with empirical and anecdotal evidence concerning Gen-X vs. the Baby-Boomers.
Honestly, I was quite startled to find the trend I did when I analyzed the data. I had expected it would confirm a collapse in the Catholic birth-rate.
To: Maximilian
But as far as your statement goes, I hear this a lot, but I disagree. Converts often have the most enthusiasm. But they don't have the deep-down intuition about the real meaning of the faith which is not intellectual and often not even spoken. Enthusiasm unbridled by humility can be destructive. I agree with your castigation of enthusiasm (have your read Msgr. Knox's book?). However, I have to wonder at what you think the real meaning of the faith is?
I've always understood faith to be the path to love of the triune God, and love the path to holiness and divinization - the partaking in the divine nature by the Holy Trinity coming to dwell within our soul and the radiation of this grace into a sanctification of our surroundings and neighbors in the world - the reconsecration and purification of "vineyard of the Lord" from the destruction wrought by the sin of Adam - so that we may shine as a light from the mountaintop, so that our days are ordered in peace, so that we can spend the remainder of our lives in true penance, so that in departing this life, perpetual light might shine upon us in the next, and our heart being pure, we might come to see God.
To: Hermann the Cherusker
However, I have to wonder at what you think the real meaning of the faith is? Your description is pretty good. However, I think it misses the substance of faith when you use words like "path" and "partaking." Faith is something solid, something that really exists, something that we are trying to grasp the reality of, but it's much bigger than we are. It's like the blind men and the elephant, and the faith has the same solid reality as the elephant. It's only our understanding of the faith that is not complete and tangible.
To extend the metaphor, if faith is like an elephant, then someone who has spent their entire life around the elephant will have a better feel for the reality of it, the size of it, the substance of it, the implications of it. Someone who reads a book about elephants is not going to have the same experiential knowledge, although they may believe that they have learned everything there is to know about elephants from the book.
To: Maximilian
However, I think it misses the substance of faith when you use words like "path" and "partaking." "For indeed His divine power has granted us all things pertaining to life and piety through the knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and power - through which he has granted us the very great and precious promises, so that you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption of that lust which is in the world." (2 Peter 1.3-4)
Or more simply, "God became man, so that man might become god." (St. Athanasius)
To: american colleen
My money is on the fact that as a convert you know more about your faith than most cradle Catholics know or knew at aged 33. I'm trying hard (at age 44) to think of anyone my age who had faith ingrained into them at all.I'm trying - but have a lot of catching up to do :) The "ingrained" cradle Catholics I'm surrounded by are all traditional. Even the teenagers are well-versed in the Faith. Best group of young people I've ever met.
BTW - the smallest Catholic family I'm aquainted with has 6 kids - the parents are in their late 20's. The largest is 15 kids. My wife is unable to have any more, but we have a 10 year-old daughter. I'm looking forward to many grandchildren in my later years...
76
posted on
07/12/2003 4:32:20 PM PDT
by
Possenti
To: sinkspur
"How totally free from sin does the couple have to be?"
Free of Mortal Sin, at least. Why would a Deacon ask such a question?
77
posted on
07/12/2003 4:43:19 PM PDT
by
narses
("The do-it-yourself Mass is ended. Go in peace" Francis Carindal Arinze of Nigeria)
To: Loyalist; sinkspur
That's the point. The ultimate law -- the salvation of souls. I fear the good Deacon is more concerned about the "happiness" of the young couple. The reality is that children are a predictable result of a decision to marry, that a freedom from Mortal Sin and a pledge to raise those children as Members of the Mystical Body of Christ are the bare minimum that the Church ought to require, seems clear to me. And who am I? Nobody. A neuter, a man with no say in the running of the Church. The Good Deacon, he is in the Apostolic Succession. He advocates lust, mixed marriages and the like. I sink sadly into despair.
78
posted on
07/12/2003 4:50:00 PM PDT
by
narses
("The do-it-yourself Mass is ended. Go in peace" Francis Carindal Arinze of Nigeria)
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