Does anyone in the U.S. REALLY believe in Catholicism????

by Mad 26 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  AK - Jeff

  I don't get the basis for the thread, to be honest. But here are the US statistics - I would say that millions believe it Catholicism.

  http://cara.georgetown.edu/bulletin/index.htm

  U.S. Data	1965	1975	1985	1995	2000	2005	2006 *
  Diocesan priests	35,925	36,005	35,052	32,349	30,607	28,702	28,299
  Religious priests	22,707	22,904	22,265	16,705	15,092	14,137	13,495
  Total priests	58,632	58,909	57,317	49,054	45,699	42,839	41,794
  Priestly ordinations	994	771	533	511	442	454	431
  Graduate-level seminarians	8,325	5,279	4,063	3,172	3,474	3,308	3,306
  Permanent deacons	--	898	7,204	10,932	12,378	14,574	14,795
  Religious brothers	12,271	8,625	7,544	6,535	5,662	5,451	5,181
  Religious sisters	179,954	135,225	115,386	90,809	79,814	68,634	66,608
  Parishes	17,637	18,515	19,244	19,331	19,236	18,891	18,584
  Without a resident priest pastor	549	702	1,051	2,161	2,843	3,251	3,405
  Catholic population	45.6m	48.7m	52.3m	57.4m	59.9m	64.8m	64.0m
  Percent of U.S. population	24%	23%	23%	23%	22%	23%	22%
  Catholic elementary schools	--	--	--	6,979	6,923	6,574	6,386
  Students in Catholic elementary schools	--	--	--	1.991m	2.013m	1.779m	1.727m
  Catholic secondary schools	--	--	--	1,238	1,221	1,225	1,203
  Students in Catholic secondary schools	--	--	--	614,571	639,954	640,952	636,447
  Gallup Poll: Yearly average percent of U.S.adult Catholics who say they attended Mass in the last seven days ( i.e. , those attending in any given week).	67%	54%	53%	47%	52%	45% (2004)	--
  CARA Catholic Poll (CCP): Yearly average percent of U.S.adult Catholics who say they attended Mass once a week or more ( i.e. , those attending every week).	--	--	--	--	33%	35%	36%
  *The 2006 numbers do not include the Archdiocese of New Orleans, due to Hurricane Katrina

  World Data	1970	1975	1980	1985	1990	1995	2000	2004
  Diocesan priests	270,924	259,331	257,409	253,319	257,696	262,418	265,781	268,041
  Religious priests	148,804	145,452	156,191	150,161	145,477	142,332	139,397	137,409
  Total priests	419,728	404,783	413,600	403,480	403,173	404,750	405,178	405,450
  Diocesan priestly ordinations	4,622	4,140	3,860	4,822	5,938	6,444	6,814	--
  Graduate-level seminarians	--	--	33,731	43,476	51,603	54,154	55,968	--
  Permanent deacons	309	2,686	7,654	12,541	17,525	22,390	27,824	31,524
  Religious brothers	79,408	70,388	73,090	65,208	62,526	59,515	55,057	54,620
  Religious sisters	1,004,304	968,526	960,991	917,432	882,111	837,961	801,185	776,269
  Parishes	191,398	200,116	206,503	212,021	215,805	220,077	218,196	219,655
  Without a resident priest pastor	39,431	46,074	50,469	55,343	57,664	60,705	55,729	--
  Catholic population	653.6m	709.6m	783.7m	852.0m	928.5m	989.4m	1.045b	1.114b
  Percent of world population	18%	17%	18%	18%	18%	17%	17%	17%
  International Mass Attendance: Population weighted percentage of adult Catholics who say they attended Mass once a week or more ( i.e. , those attending every week) in the 38 largest Catholic population nations.	--	--	--	--	--	--	41%	--
• 

  Nazarene

  Who's pointing the Accuser's finger at the RCC? What a joke that is, in light of the devil unleashed from protestant (state) churches. I could go thru the history but lets look at the present. With the capitalism's chokehold grip tightening more on us every day, I cannot turn away form the Catholoic Church.

  The RCC holds nothing against the WTS or other Christian churches. I believe the RCC is active on many fronts of social peace and justice -- condemning Bush for the Iraq war, helping migrant farm workers etc. and they encourage support groups within i.e. the Knights of Columbus and Pax Christi.

  I think the Nazarene church service easily bests either one, with too many rituals in one and the fairy-airy music of the other suffocating me.
• 

  jgnat

  I think Mad is an anti-Witness. He hasn't switched because he don't see anything better out there. A mocker of Christendom and Witnessdom alike, if you will. Perhaps, Mad, if you spent less time fussing over the practices and watched the people, you would be more generous.

  http://www.religioustolerance.org/

  As for your pictures, Mad, it's true no-one can thankfully for me see your pictures. They are all in your mind PC.
• 

  greendawn

  Let's not forget that belonging to a religion involves a lot more than believing in its religious articles it also has political, cultural, social and in many instances national dimensions. In this sense one can be a catholic without strictly believing in catholicism as such, by being part of its culture and society. This is very unlike the JW approach where if you don't believe in their doctrines down to a T you are expelled.
• 

  Nazarene

  Catholic means "universal", while the WTS is a Bible Study Group and pretty good at that. Nazarenes or Brethren have their missionaries and social causes, though not as widespread. I participate in many churches on a haven't asked/won't tell basis, and if it is a problem I'd shake the dust off my foot. If you really study what Jesus' intents are, then the Witnesses are the closest thing to doing his work.
• 

  jaguarbass

  I think everybody who bases their faith on the bible is a modified catholic. I think they have a lot of churches. I dont think there as screwey as the witnoids. They let you go to confession and start all over without destroying your family. You can start all over every week. So you can have one foot in the world and one foot in gods kingdom, you only enter the kingdom on Sunday, for an hour.

  In this information age, I think church attendence is for the poor uneducated, illiterate, unread. And for those disfunctionals in need of a cult.

  Maybe America and the technological nations of the world are ready for destruction as we have been enlightened to the point we can no longer believe.

  Then when the advanced nations of the world destroy themselves and man crawls out of the ashes, they will write new chapters to put in the bible and start all over again.
• 

  Nazarene

  There is wide variety among the different parishes. The one I chose to attend is socially oriented. Their pastor is a leader in developing the inter-faith committee for pressuring the local policos, who are corrupt with the developers and we are active in the peace and justice movement in the Middle East. Another parish give out food to the needy. The church heavily subsidses a Bible scholar program at St. Thomas University, so you can attend classes there for $100 a semester.

  Affiliates like the Knights of Columbus also fund student education through seminaries. You should check out their website sometime, and tell us what you think then.

  The WS offers a distorted, accusing view of what the Catholic position had been on Hitler.