Posted on 08/12/2003 7:52:00 PM PDT by Land of the Irish
Kenneth Jones’ statistic research work first appeared in Latin Mass magazine in the Nineties. As a CPA working in the investments industry at that time, I was already immersed in charts, graphs and financial reports comparing projections and actual results. I knew the decline in the Church had been precipitous since the Sixties, but in page after page of simple bar charts awful truth sank in. A picture says a thousand words, good or bad. It occurred to me then that the quantitative approach to the charting the decline since Vatican II would make a good book someday, and that day has come.
Mr. Jones addressed the Catholic Citizens of Illinois monthly lunch forum on August 8th (held on the second Friday of every month at the Chicago Athletic Association) discussing his new book, The Index of Leading Catholic Indicators, (Oriens Publishing, St. Louis, MO.) He could have easily subtitled this work with any number of clever by-lines, but showing a lawyer’s restraint, he delivers the numbers straight up with simple charts and tables covering the period 1920 to 2000, and with projections through 2020 in most cases, based on the trends since the Sixties. His sources of data are independent and credible. The approach to evaluating data (specifically in the area of survey bias in determining Mass attendance numbers) is scientific and accurate. The results are bleak and depressing.
Mr. Jones is a very personable speaker, which was an asset as he recounted the grim statistics in Catholic vocations, beliefs and education to a scandal wearied crowd of traditional Catholics. From 1920 to 2000, the Catholic population in America grew from around 18 million to over 60 million, a 360% increase. During this same time, the number of priest steady rose, to a peak in 1970 of 59,000. In that same year, there were 161,000 nuns and sisters. But in the years that followed, vocations to the priesthood, sisterhood, and holy orders collapsed. There are one tenth as many seminarians today as in the Sixties. The nuns as most of us remember them - teaching and loving - have been cut by more than half. Everywhere there is a lack of, or loss of faith in Catholic teachings.
What could have gone so terribly wrong to produce such declines?
Jones believes, as do many Catholics, that the Second Vatican Council and the implementation of various reforms immediately following that Council are directly responsible. “No reasonable person looking at the evidence could come to any other conclusion. The beginning of the declines in all categories commences after the Council, and it’s been all down hill since. Yes, I believe there is a positive correlation.” Yet in spite of the post-Council wreckage, church leaders continue to insist that the Second Council was a smashing success, and the reforms should continue, in spite of the results. The disconnect between the causes and effects of the decline was the motivation for writing the book, which Jones hopes will help Catholics distinguish between the myths and realities of Vatican II.
The statistics related to Catholic attitudes on core Catholic values have changed dramatically in the last forty years. They reveal that since Vatican II, there are tens of millions of self-proclaimed Catholics in this country who aren’t Catholic at all.
Though the results in several polls vary, Jones believes that Mass attendance in the US is currently at 25%. In the 1920’s it was a time of huge urban Cathedrals, and tightly woven very ethnic and very Catholic parishes. Not surprising, Mass attendance was high, as high as 80% in some areas, but always a major of the parish members. Attendance began to crash in the Sixties, falling by double digits annually in the early Seventies to one in four Catholics today.
There are no lines at the confessionals either, because no one is going. In one survey, Jones noted, one in three Catholics today claim to go to Confession once a month. “All you have to do is look around on Sunday to know that something’s not right. It’s called survey bias. We suspect many Catholics surveyed knew they had to make an annual confession to remain Catholic, and they gave information that was not true.”
A 1994 New York Times/CBS poll showed that 70% of Catholics between the ages of 18 and 44 have lost faith in the Eucharist, believing instead that it was a “symbolic reminder” of Jesus. The same survey revealed that 51% of Mass going Catholics believed that the Eucharist was symbolic! If the majority of modern Catholics had their way, noted Jones, we would have woman priests and married priests, and all prohibitions on birth control would be lifted, including abortion. Jones traces the increasing gulf between Catholic actions and beliefs to the Second Council.
Faced with dwindling religious order teachers, and poor catechism and education quality, the numbers of Catholic schools and students declined dramatically from 1960 to today. There is good news: private Catholic schools (non-diocesan) have been increasing as orthodox home-school families have banded together, hired teachers and converted buildings.
Jones concludes that the Second Vatican Council wasn’t so much a spark that lit a dry forest, but a force that broke a dam which held back oceans of dissent and heresy. The application of the reform of Vatican II says Jones, combined with the social and technological changes going on in the world, has been a complete disaster. It is difficult for Jones and many Catholics to reconcile the optimism of the pope, who lavishes praise on the many fruits of Vatican II that are spreading their branches in the New Pentecost. “If this is renewal,” said Jones wryly, “I don’t want to be around when the decline sets in.”
To avoid that decline, Jones suggested that Catholics resort to the most powerful and plentiful weapon in their grasp - prayer. Prayer for our families, our country, and most importantly for our priests and bishops, that they make the right decisions and provide faithful leadership. The second thing to do is evangelize, joining groups such as Credo, which Jones helped found in St. Louis in 1996, or like Catholic Citizens of Illinois (also founded in 1996.) “Through forums, newsletters, websites, phone calls, conferences, videos, tapes and TV the voice of authentic Catholicism is being heard.” Jones encouraged restoration oriented Catholics to keep the truth alive and in front of the Catholic laity and clergy, and not to be afraid to defend the Catholic faith, and the truth, when it is challenged.
It’s hard to argue with Jones’ numbers, but it is possible to look at them in different ways. We all know that there are many millions of inactive, self-described Catholics who ask nothing of their parish and give nothing. If we were to exclude non-Mass attending Catholics from the pool of people relying on vocations, catechism, and education to sustain their families, the numbers across the board look different. In the 1920’s two out of three Catholics went to Mass weekly, a number that was sustained though the early Sixties, then crashed to one out of four Catholics today.
Assuming we are concerned with a body of believers and a Church known as Catholics, I don’t believe it is reasonable to include Catholics-in-name-only, who show up at Church to be “hatched, matched, or dispatched” and never to be seen of again. The priest problem doesn’t look as bad when compared to the number of Catholics who come to Mass, in fact it shows improvement. From 1920 to 2000, the number of Mass attending parishioners per priest declined from 500 to 350. Conversely, during that period, the number of total Catholics per priest nearly doubled, from 843 to 1,429, demonstrating a “shortage” of priests. I would argue that a priest is primarily going to minister to the needs of Catholics who go to Mass, not the 75% who don’t show up for Mass. These projections get worse going forward, but by 2020, we can assume that there will be around one priest for every 500 mass going Catholics, or at the level experienced in the 1920’s.
The good news is that in spite of the collapse in vocations in the old-line religious orders like the Jesuits and Franciscans, there are new orders of priests that are booming with seminarians. The Legionaires of Christ, the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, the Society of St. John Cantius, for example, are highly orthodox and thriving communities. Even the bleak landscape of diocesan vocations is dotted with hope in unexpected cities like Denver and Lincoln, Nebraska, where orthodox men are being attracted by orthodox bishops.
In spite of the decline in Catholic education at the elementary and high school level, vocations are being created in great numbers as the number of orthodox universities increases. The greatest number of vocations recruitment up to the 1960’s was done in Catholic Universities. The collapse in the number of seminarians is mostly due to the collapse of faithfulness to traditional Catholic values in places like Georgetown, DePaul, and other universities that today are entirely secularized. With the rise of private colleges like Thomas Aquinas in California, Franciscan in Steubenville, and now Ave Maria in Florida, there are increasing numbers of authentically Catholic universities, and the consequence, as before, will be increasing vocations coming from them.
The decline in the number of Catholic schools and students is not entirely driven by Vatican II, though the collapse of authentic Catholic curriculum and catechism in these schools can find little other cause.
Affordability of Catholic education has been adversely impacted by taxes on working families, which rose from 15% of gross income to 45% of gross income today, all taxes (federal, state, and local) included. Under these circumstances, most Catholic families can’t afford to send their children to a private or parochial school, and without any other choice, are forced into public education and the propaganda that comes with it, reinforcing the secular and skeptic beliefs that plague us today.
The numbers of sisters, many of them teachers, declined from 138,000 in 1945 to 75,000 today, forcing Catholic schools to hire lay teachers and pay them competitive salaries. Not only was this more expensive, but many Catholic parents reacted by sending their kids to the public schools if brothers or nuns weren’t teaching anymore at their parish school. During his talk, Jones correctly pointed out that the tragic demise of the sisterhood worldwide needed to be better appreciated by Catholics. In spite of heroic popular saints like the Therese the Little Flower, and Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the orders of sisters have been co-opted by feminists and dissenters to an astounding degree.
Fortunately, just like in the priesthood, the orders of sisters that are growing and thriving are those which have clung most tenaciously to tradition and orthodoxy. The great orders of tomorrow are being founded before our eyes by the courage and faith of women like Mother Assumpta Long, TV evangelist Mother Angelica, and Mother Teresa. Just as the priesthood of the future will be populated by men of orthodoxy and faith, the liberal sisters of the 80’s and 90’s will soon have run their course, and the restoration will be aided by orthodox nuns.
Kenneth Jones has provided a wealth of information on the decline in the Catholic Church. What remains to be seen is whether the bishops will act on it, or continue to perpetuate the myth that everything is fine, and the fruits of the Second Council are continuing to unfold, when in fact, the exact opposite is true.
In what way is it good? In fact, in what way is it better, because Sacrosanctum Concilium said that nothing was to be changed in the Mass unless necessity demanded it. The article that started this thread listed a book full of statistics documenting the decline of the Catholic Church concurrent with the New Mass. Can you give even one counter-statistic? And it's not just a question of numbers, it's a question of souls. Where are the souls that are being saved by the New Mass? Can you point to any?
Compare just one issue -- What is the Mass? People who attended the Latin Mass would tell you that it is the un-bloody re-presentation here and now of Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, offered by a priest who acts in persona Christi. People who attend the New Mass will tell you that it is the People of God gathered together to celebrate their community, presided over by a "presider" who is the representative of the community. Which one is the truth?
Actually both are the truth in their own way -- the two descriptions reflect the two realities. But which one is the Catholic Mass?
But by the progressive Catholics rejection to "Humanae Vitae" - well, that tells me something.
I remember in HS Freshman year we were given a copy of "Humanae Vitae" and that was that. No teaching on it at all. Just as I wrote that I realized that maybe I was just asleep at the wheel... spent most of my HS years that way. But I do not recall discussion of HV.
Me! And my kids! And probably a whole bunch of other people at my parish!
Do you like the Mass on EWTN?
Wha??? I'd never tell you that and I attend the New Mass. My kids wouldn't tell you that and they attend the New Mass. I know a bunch of people who wouldn't tell you that and they attend the New Mass.
Why do you make such sweeping, broad generalizations?
But that's accepting the idea that you wouldn't have been saved without the New Mass. That's just like the communists pointing to increased tractor production, as though there never would have been any tractors produced if the Czar were still in power.
Let me say also that my experience was different. After nearly 20 years of adult participation in the New Mass, and after paying for 12 years of Catholic school for my oldest, I recognized that it had failed to produce Catholics in my two oldest children. They are not living in a state of grace. And that is the reality for virtually all teenagers growing up in the New Mass and Catholic schools. They are not living in a state of grace. They are immersed in the "culture of death."
That's when I recognized that we needed a Plan B if I wanted any of my children to grow up Catholic.
Do you like the Mass on EWTN?
The Mass on EWTN is celebrated reverentially. By definition, the best New Mass is the one that is least distinguishable from the Latin Mass. So what is the point?
"A light shone in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not."
-- St John.
Unfortunately, the General Instruction on the Roman Missal WOULD tell you that. Here is an excerpt from Cardinal Ottaviani's objections to the New Mass:
Let us begin with the definition of the Mass. In Article 7 of the General Instruction which precedes the New Order of Mass, we discover the following definition:The Lord's Supper or Mass is the sacred assembly or congregation of the people of God gathering together, with a priest presiding, to celebrate the memorial of the Lord. For this reason Christ's promise applies supremely to a local gathering together of the Church: ‘Where two or three come together in my name, there am I in their midst.’ (Mt. 18:20).
The definition of the Mass is thus reduced to a "supper," a term which the General Instruction constantly repeats.
The Instruction further characterizes this "supper" as an assembly, presided over by a priest and held as a memorial of the Lord to recall what He did on Holy Thursday. None of this in the very least implies:
The Real Presence.
The reality of the Sacrifice.
The sacramental function of the priest who consecrates.
The intrinsic value of the Eucharistic Sacrifice independent of the presence of the "assembly."In a word, the Instruction's definition implies none of the dogmatic values which are essential to the Mass and which, taken together, provide its true definition. Here, deliberately omitting these dogmatic values by "going beyond them" amounts, at least in practice, to denying them.
The second part of Article 7 makes this already serious equivocation even worse. It states that Christ's promise, ("Where two or three come together in my name, there am I in their midst") applies to this assembly supremely.
Thus, the Instruction puts Christ's promise (which refers only to His spiritual presence through grace) on the same qualitative level (save for greater intensity) as the substantial and physical reality of the sacramental Eucharistic Presence.
No point. I just wondered, is all.
But that's accepting the idea that you wouldn't have been saved without the New Mass.
How did you get that? I never said it, I don't believe it. I would not have been saved without Jesus Christ. Period.
I sympathize with you regarding your oldest kids. Hey, I was one of them at one time and you probably were as well. But my aunts and uncles and parents were all educated well before Vatican II - steeped in proper catechism and all that goes along with it. And they are all apostates - divorce, sex, abortion, remarriage w/o annulment, etc. Each and every one, to some degree. So I pray for them as you pray for your oldest that He will give them the grace to hear Him and come back into the flock.
Most of us at some point embrace the culture of death because that is the world we live in. It's His grace that brings us back, not which Mass you attend.
And my kids are the only kids I know who look forward to attending Mass and don't complain about it at all.
Yikes! Time for an inter library search. But I doubt any libraries carry many books like that. Bet I could find McBrien's Catholicism or stuff by Gary Wills though. ;-)
Glad you got the other book. It's great, I know you'll love it.
It helps to have a thoroughly orthodox bishop. It helps to have diocesan officials relentlessly seeking orthodox vocations and encouraging them as a very high priority for the diocese. It helps to recruit members of the quite conservative and manly Knights of Columbus and to encourage conservative blacks and Hispanics to consider the priesthood. The priests here also set an example by approaching their work with orthodoxy, zeal and joy. We are privileged to have moved here from the East Coast.
I dunno. They've hooked me. I've been saying these things for years. The Catholic Churches in Minnesota are filled with liberal, weeney, touchy feely softies that bare little resemblence to the strong tough minded Catholic role models I admired growing up. I feel little connection to my parish. Sundays seem more like a PTA meeting than a holy mass.
Picking at scabs will get you nowhere. Most of you are curiously absent on pro-life threads, anti-homosexuality threads, the anti-RINO/CINO Ahhhhhhnold Schwrzenkennedy threads, et al., because these offer less of a venue for easy opportunism aimed at the impressionable.
Our Rockford Diocese has no problem with Vatican II, plenty of orthodox seminarians and ordinations and a bishop to kill for who is quite well-connected in the Vatican. We are fortunate. This is not necessarily an earned situation. We are lucky that Bishop Doran was born here, served as altar boy in the cathedral, ordained here, and consecrated as bishop here while well serving the Vatican and therefore the Church in other capacities such as service as one of seven judges on the Apostolic Signatura. That is the reality here and it can be the reality wherever a talented and thoroughly orthodox bishop takes firm control and does not fear to act.
The reserve troops ought to take care lest they be noticed firing at he backs of the regulars and doing so in the guise of firing at the actual enemy. You guys persist in attacking the Vatican when the problems today are much closer to your homes as in the chanceries of faithless bureaucrat liberals who have run your dioceses into the ground.
JP II is pope. Lefebvre was not. Fellay is not and will not be. Get over it. Take some responsibility for a change and stop being conscientious objectors in the spiritual warfare for which Jesus Christ founded this Church.
Also remember that, as a Church, we necessarily take the long view. We did not get into various messes overnight nor will we get out of them overnight because some apostle of disobedience of an excommunicated and illicitly consecrated bishop waves his magic wand and says Magicaboola. We mark time in centuries and not in moments.
Finally, I will admit that I do not favor any Vatican IIIs, Pope Joans, People's Revolutionary Pew Critter Caucuses or other delusions of the anti-Catholic "Catholics", but frankly, death comes for us all, particularly the aging anti-Catholic "Catholic" rebeles of yesteryear whose dreams of a thoroughly wreckovated RCC institution are dead. They are recognizing that their time is long past and that it will not come their way again. Their failure is marked by learning the hard way that heaven is neither democratic nor Demonratic as many die each day. It is in all the obituary columns every day.
2. Getting to us? Not in my lifetime. Not in God's lifetime.
Answer: NO. Celebritymania will wear off in about three weeks as we keep hearing things from CINO/RINO Riordan like: Arnold agrees with me 99% of the time.
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