[OLD REGGIE]

Catholics in Europe and Asia tend to be a lot more knowledgeable while those from S.America tend not to be very (again, all of this is my personal experience)

I can't begin to speak for Asia but those "knowledeable" Catholics in Europe have been walking away in droves while the largest Catholic population in the world is in South America.

So much for "knowledge".

[wmfights]

but those "knowledeable" Catholics in Europe have been walking away in droves while the largest Catholic population in the world is in South America.

FWIW, it's changing in So. America, but not to atheism.

Those "terrible" Pentecostals and Evangelicals are preaching The Gospel and they are becoming Born Again. Of course we won't know the true numbers for a couple generations because as RC's have pointed out once you're a RC your always a RC so they never take you off their membership lists.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

lol.

[Cronos]

I've lived and live in Europe and that statement of yours is false. During the 60s, there was a move away from Christianity as a whole in W. Europe, yes, but the ones hit the most were the Protestant north and north-west and Catholic France. Now, the statistics are still better in France compared to England or Sweden or Denmark (Germany is a mixed bag as it is 60-40 Protestant-Catholic).

In Eastern Europe, Church attendenace remains high, while in ITaly it is moderate. In Spain it is decreasing, but still higher than Italy. In Flanders it is HIGH as in Poland, Hungary, Greece and Croatia.

Catholic communities seem to be lasting longer where there is a more knowledgeable group of people (like in Poland or Flanders) who read and question their faith, while in places were both the Protestant and the CAtholic clergy became wishy-washy and liberal (England), Church attendance is slipping