I wonder what you mean by biblical churches.
I don’t see how the Catholic Church could be surpassed in the readings from the Bible, the homilies, the community support, etc.
In fact, we have grown so much that we needed to build a new church!
Go figure!
Don’t know where you live but I get constant news articles from family in NY of Parish consolidations, school closures and property sell offs. Maybe you live in an area benefiting from consolidation. Or a populous Roman Catholic area. Maybe it is a North East issue.
On the other hand in Florida the Roman Catholic churches seem to be growing with the baby boomers retiring down there. Funny note is my mom noted how many new young people were in her church. She is mid 80s and was referring to all the youngsters in their 60s and 70s:)
That is actually no wonder to me, having once been where you are. See things the New Testament church did not have, but Rome does
I don’t see how the Catholic Church could be surpassed in the readings from the Bible, the homilies, the community support, etc.
As re Bible reading, it has been calculated that even going to mass daily would only give you 12.7% of the Bible over the two year reading cycle. (http://catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/Statistics.htm) Much of the Bible reading in Mass is repetitious.
In the SBC church down the street, most or an entire chapter is read before the preaching even begins, and more during the sermon, which begins after the worship, prayers, etc. which is longer than the typical Mass. And in fact i would estimate about as much prayer is offered and Scripture reading is done before the preaching even begins than in an entire Mass.
And which is preceded by adult Sunday School, going thru Revelation, and on Wed. night a through the Bible study goes on, from beginning to end.
And the preaching is powerful proclamation of the word of God, usually about 45 minutes, in contrast to the typical 10 minute dull sermonette RCs are subject to, and which i know well of as a former weekly RC. Thus you have such a disproportionately large media market of evangelical preaching (and not just the Hinn stuff), versus Catholic sermons.
As for community support, RCs do very little of that or other examples of commitment, compared to evangelicals in proportion to their numbers. And Catholic nonprofit organizations, incldg. Catholic Charities, get a lot of money from the Feds.
The Obama administration has actually increased funding for Catholic nonprofit organizations and programs. In fact, more than $1.5 billion went to Catholic organizations over the past two years. - http://www.networklobby.org/news-media/federal-funding-catholic-organizations
56 percent of Evangelicals currently say they're strongly affiliated with their religion, while only 35 percent of Catholics say the same, and 4% lower than mainline Protestants (devoutness of Mainline Protestants [distinct from evangelicals] fell to roughly 30 percent in the late 1970s to late 1980s before gradually climbing to 39 percent in 2010) http://www.science20.com/print/972444
Bible Reading: the highest was 75%, by those going to a Pentecostal/Foursquare church who reported they had read the Bible during the past week (besides at church), while the lowest was among Catholics at 23% ^
Volunteer church work (during past 7 days): Assemblies of God were highest at 30%, with the lowest going to Catholics at 12%. ^
Donating Money (during the last month): Church of Christ churches were the highest at 29%, with Catholics being the lowest at 12% ^
American evangelicals gave four times as much money, per person, to churches as did all other church donors in 2001. 88 percent of evangelicals and 73 percent of all Protestants donated to churches. John Ronsvalle and Sylvia Ronsvalle, The State of Church Giving through 2004: Will We Will? 16th ed. (Champaign, Ill.: Empty Tomb, 2006),12. http://www.generousgiving.org/stats#
A Catholic survey reports that 4 percent of US Catholics described themselves as “very” involved in parish or religious activities other than attending Mass, and 11% as “somewhat involved, and 64% as “not involved at all.” Among weekly (or more) attendees (approx 22% of adult Catholics), 13% were very” involved, 29% “somewhat involved and 25% not involved at all.” http://cara.georgetown.edu/CARAServices/FRStats/devotionpractice.pdf
25% of Evangelical Christians and 20% of other Protestants and 7% of Catholics said the read the Bible on a daily basis. 44% of Catholics said they rarely or never read the Bible, along with only 7% of Evangelical Christians and 13% of other Protestants. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/general_lifestyle/december_2008/catholics_protestants_practice_faith_in_different_ways
91% of Evangelical Christians and 63% of other Protestants and 25% of Catholics consider themselves to be born again; ^
44% of Evangelical Christians reflect at least daily on the meaning of Scripture in their lives. 36% of other Protestants and 22% of Catholics do the same; ^
52% of Evangelical Christians have had a meaningful discussion about their faith with a non-Christian during the past month. 28% of other Protestants and 18% of Catholics also have held such a discussion. ^
68% of Evangelical Christians attend a regular Bible Study or participate in some other small-group activity. 47% of other Protestants take part in small groups related to their faith, along with 24% of Catholics. ^
More .
Thus while you may not be able to "see how the Catholic Church could be surpassed in the readings from the Bible, the homilies, the community support, etc., the fact is it easily is. But your inordinate devotion and promotion of a particular church - versus preaching Christ as seen in Scripture - is consistent with the cultic nature of traditional Catholicism.