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Number of U.S. Catholics, deacons up; priests, religious down
Catholic News.com ^ | 7-16-04 | Jerry Filteau

Posted on 07/20/2004 9:08:41 AM PDT by Salvation

 CNS Story:


KENEDY Jul-16-2004 (870 words)

Number of U.S. Catholics, deacons up; priests, religious down

By Jerry Filteau
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- New figures show the U.S. Catholic population continues to grow. The number of deacons serving them is on the rise, but the numbers of priests and religious brothers and sisters are down. The long-term slide in church marriages continues.

The 2004 edition of the Official Catholic Directory showed some drop in the number of U.S. Catholic colleges, high schools and elementary schools and in the number of students attending them, but slight increases in the number of elementary and high school youths served by parish-based religious education programs.

A Catholic News Service analysis of diocesan clergy figures showed nearly three out of every 10 diocesan priests in the country are now classified as retired, sick or on leave.

Known in church circles as the Kenedy Directory for its publisher's imprint, the 2,300-page directory is an annual publication that provides detailed information about diocesan offices and Catholic parishes, schools, hospitals, religious houses and personnel in each U.S. diocese. It has statistical data on church life ranging from the number of baptisms and first Communions in the past year to the number of parishes, schools and hospitals and the number of patients treated in Catholic health facilities.

The directory is published from offices in New Providence, N.J.

The U.S. Catholic population at the start of 2004, according to the directory, was 67,259,768 -- an increase of some 850,000 over the 66,407,702 reported in 2003. Catholics continue to make up 23 percent of the total U.S. population.

The directory's national figures include data from Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth, and U.S. territories overseas such as the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Guam.

The number of priests declined slightly from 44,487 last year to 44,212 this year. Of these, 14,729 were members of religious orders and 29,483 were diocesan.

The directory reported an increase in the number of permanent deacons, from 14,106 last year to 14,693 this year.

The number of religious brothers was 5,504, or 64 fewer than last year. Religious sisters numbered 71,468, a decline of 3,212 from last year.

The directory reported that there were 544 new ordinations to the priesthood in the past year -- up from 449 the previous year -- but the new figure was inflated by an erroneous recording of 61 ordinations in the Diocese of Lake Charles, La. That is the total number of diocesan priests there, and just this June Bishop Edward K. Braxton of Lake Charles wrote a pastoral letter on the impact of the vocations shortage, saying the diocese has not ordained a new priest in the past two years.

The directory listed 19,431 parishes, down 53 from last year, and 2,910 missions, down 78 from last year. Missions usually offer limited services and are typically served by a priest of a neighboring parish.

The nation's 583 Catholic hospitals served nearly 84 million patients last year and 376 other Catholic health care centers served nearly 4.3 million patients. Nearly 21.3 million people were served by the nation's 2,969 Catholic social service centers.

In Catholic education:

-- The 232 colleges and universities enrolled 747,060 students, down about 2,500 from the previous year.

-- The 787 diocesan and parish high schools and 560 private high schools had a total of 680,323 students, down about 6,300 from the year before. There were 37 fewer diocesan and parish high schools than the year before, but eight more private schools.

-- Enrollment declines were sharper in elementary schools. There were 6,488 diocesan and parish grade schools, down 285 from the previous year, and they served 1,796,275 students -- a drop of almost 77,000 from the year before. Private grade schools dropped from 369 to 365 and 95,742 students, about 2,800 fewer than the previous year.

The number of students in religious education rose. At the high school level there were 771,730, about 4,000 more than the previous year. At the elementary level there were 3,612,510, almost 30,000 more than the year before.

Despite the overall 3.2 percent enrollment decline in Catholic elementary and secondary schools, the number of Catholic school teachers rose 5.2 percent. The 2003 directory reported 171,814 teachers but the 2004 figure was 180,881, an increase of more than 9,000.

Lay teachers, who number nearly 170,000, or 91 percent of the teaching force, accounted for more than 8,000 of the additional teachers reported in the 2004 directory.

Surprisingly, however, the numbers of teaching priests, brothers, sisters and scholastics -- Jesuits in training -- all increased in the 2004 report. In all four of those categories the numbers have been generally in decline for at least three decades.

There were 196 more priests in teaching (from 1,596 to 1,792), 174 more brothers (from 1,021 to1,195), 482 more sisters (from 7,389 to 7,871) and 24 more scholastics (from 33 to 57).

During 1993 there were 985,141 infant baptisms, down about 20,000; 896,670 first Communions, down about 1,000; 645,426 confirmations, up about 8,000; and 232,060 marriages, down almost 10,000.

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KEYWORDS: catholiclist; catholics; deacons; needs; population; priests
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For your information and discusssion.
1 posted on 07/20/2004 9:08:43 AM PDT by Salvation
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To: Salvation
**The U.S. Catholic population at the start of 2004, according to the directory, was 67,259,768 -- an increase of some 850,000 over the 66,407,702 reported in 2003. Catholics continue to make up 23 percent of the total U.S. population.**

Nearly one-fourth! No wonder the Bush administration is courting the Catholic vote!

2 posted on 07/20/2004 9:12:50 AM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: *Catholic_list; father_elijah; nickcarraway; SMEDLEYBUTLER; Siobhan; Lady In Blue; attagirl; ...
Catholic Discussion Ping!

Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the Catholic Discussion Ping List.

3 posted on 07/20/2004 9:14:01 AM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: *Catholic_list; father_elijah; nickcarraway; SMEDLEYBUTLER; Siobhan; Lady In Blue; attagirl; ...
Catholic Discussion Ping!

Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the Catholic Discussion Ping List.

4 posted on 07/20/2004 9:16:30 AM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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Sorry about the double ping!


5 posted on 07/20/2004 9:21:09 AM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: Salvation
We currently have 2 high schoolers in our parish that are considering vocations.

How was your trip to Dallas?

6 posted on 07/20/2004 9:30:31 AM PDT by al_c
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To: Salvation
The directory reported an increase in the number of permanent deacons, from 14,106 last year to 14,693 this year.

That's up 587 over 2003. And that's net, since some deacons retire or die. Dioceses have three year programs, so not every diocese ordains deacons every year.

7 posted on 07/20/2004 9:30:32 AM PDT by sinkspur (There's no problem on the inside of a kid that the outside of a dog can't cure.)
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To: Salvation
Nearly one-fourth! No wonder the Bush administration is courting the Catholic vote!

Do you consider this a good or bad thing?

Becky

8 posted on 07/20/2004 9:57:44 AM PDT by PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain
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To: Salvation

Ordinations up about 7% in one year. And yes, that's after I removed the 61 Lake-Charles priests from the tally. Still, at this rate each priest would have to serve 100 years to maintain the current size of the Catholic priesthood (40,000), but given what has happened in the Church lately, I think it suggests that the call has gone out for the Calvary.

I was going to correct myself and write "Cavalry," but I decided the typo was more correct.


9 posted on 07/20/2004 10:40:52 AM PDT by dangus
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To: Salvation
Of interest. "Despite the overall 3.2 percent enrollment decline in Catholic elementary and secondary schools, the number of Catholic school teachers rose 5.2 percent. "

I wonder if the same reverse math is available for the priesthood. Priests are down but is the number of Bishops up? " Maybe too much administratin goin on out thar?"

10 posted on 07/20/2004 11:00:51 AM PDT by ex-snook (Trade deficits export jobs and the money used to buy America and all we get is a cheap T-shirt.)
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To: Salvation

Actually, voting Catholics should be courting Bush. He is more in line with Catholic teaching than our "Catholic" senators and congressmen.


11 posted on 07/20/2004 11:23:14 AM PDT by pieces of time
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To: pieces of time

**voting Catholics should be courting Bush. He is more in line with Catholic teaching than our "Catholic" senators and congressmen.**

Very well said!


12 posted on 07/20/2004 11:55:32 AM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain

While it is sad that the Catholics who vote do not always vote along the conservative lines that you and I would have them vote -- I do consider this a wake up call and a good thing that Bush is courting the Catholic vote.


13 posted on 07/20/2004 11:56:47 AM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: Salvation
The $64,000 question is this: where are they getting these numbers? Are they counting real, actual people in the pews (from the Status Anuarium of each parish/diocese), or are they counting every hand raised when asked the question: "would you identify yourself as a Catholic". I was in the market research field for a few years and well know that statistics - even if honest - can be skewed.
Secondly: are they counting all the illegal aliens from Central & South America who are overwhelmingly Catholic? In NYC the number of legal US citizens who are church going Catholics is frighteningly small, compared with the vast numbers of the illegals from south of the border
It goes without saying that most of these people contribute little to the church in $$$, and certainly nothing in vocations as they have no long term commitment to this country.
American citizens who are Catholic are contracepting, aborting, and sodomizing themselves to death in the sense that they now have a low birthrate. The ongoing nonsense in the church inspires most of them to stay home on Sunday, not contribute....much less do the young in any serious number want to commit their lives to the church as priests of religious.
14 posted on 07/20/2004 1:33:12 PM PDT by thor76 (Vade retro, Draco! Crux sacra sit mihi lux!)
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To: thor76

Time to quote Mark Twain:

"There are three kinds of lies; lies, damn lies, and statistics."


15 posted on 07/20/2004 2:12:43 PM PDT by RonF
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To: Salvation

Actually, CHURCH-going Catholics vote 68% Republican, according to Gallup/USA Today. The same percentage as church-going fundamentalists, IIRC.


16 posted on 07/20/2004 2:49:28 PM PDT by dangus
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To: thor76

>>The $64,000 question is this: where are they getting these numbers<<

Parish registration, for certain. Doesn't mean they go to church every week, but does mean they probably at least go for Christmas and Easter.

>> Secondly: are they counting all the illegal aliens from Central & South America who are overwhelmingly Catholic? <<

Not sure, but possibly. Certainly, immigration is fueling the growth in the numbers of Catholics. Most of the largest sources of immigrants certainly are nominally Catholic nations (Mexico, etc.), but some are very irreligious (Mexico, Central America, etc.) while others are very devout (the Philippines).

I have a friend just back from Honduras who reports that no-one in Tegulcipada was even familiar with the concept of a marriage, so I imagine immigrants from such places don't remain identified as Catholics very long.

In eastern Somerville, MA, the population is at least 70% Hispanic and Brazilian; but the Catholic Church is devoid of any worshippers. The only Christian influences are a few store-front Pentecostalist churches.

On Long Island, most of the Hispanic population is Puerto Rican; they tend to at least maintain ties to Church.

From what I hear, LA Chicanos are mostly Marxist with only peripheral cultural ties to the Catholic Church, while in Texas, although the churches themselves are polluted by a dominant liberation theology, the Tex-Mexes are still more faithful. (These would seem to be the Bush Hispanics?)

In my present parish, attendance is very poor, considering the large number of Hispanics. (The area is 50% Hispanic, and only 20% of Anglos are Catholic, yet the Spanish mass has room to sit, and the four English masses are SRO.) The response is of course to condescend, so the Spanish masses are a three-ring circus.

>> American citizens who are Catholic are contracepting, aborting, and sodomizing themselves to death in the sense that they now have a low birthrate. The ongoing nonsense in the church inspires most of them to stay home on Sunday, not contribute....much less do the young in any serious number want to commit their lives to the church as priests of religious.<<

That definitely aptly describes Boston, but not red-state Catholics.


17 posted on 07/20/2004 3:02:17 PM PDT by dangus
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To: RonF

Mark Twain was, of course, referring to what we now call "spinning." I don't detect any agenda or spinning in this article. Do you see anything that sounds deceitful, or are you just coming along to piss on everyone and everything?


18 posted on 07/20/2004 3:04:19 PM PDT by dangus
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To: Salvation
In other words, there goes the neighborhood.

This is a depressing piece, very depressing, because what it means is that the Traditional Catholics are a tiny minority, overshadowed by the cafeteria Catholic bishops, joined at the hip deacons, and their minions.

No thanks.

19 posted on 07/20/2004 3:09:59 PM PDT by AlbionGirl ("The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.")
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To: dangus

Parish registration, for certain. Doesn't mean they go to church every week, but does mean they probably at least go for Christmas and Easter.
I agree with much of your assessment, Though, from personal experience, many pastors will inflate the figures to make themselves look better to their chancery offices.
Assuming they are telling the truth, the white & black Catholic polulation is decreasing in proportion due to the vast growth off illegal Hispanic Catholics here. But - you are very correct to say that not all of them go to mass. Many are hardly devout, in any real sense of the word. Through Marxist influence in their homelands, they are "baptize, marry, and bury" Catholics - if that!
Many Catholic immigrants - from all countries - come here for freedom FROM religion. They are only cultural catholics back home, and are just here for the $$$. Filipinos are notable excpetions, as a group.
Traditionalism among recent immigrants is squashed by apostate priests, who purposely make Spanish masses into "alleluia ministry" with the maximum amoutn of noise, screaming, gross disrespect, etc. If you query these priests, they will tell you that "this is what the people like/expect". Well, of course - when that is the only menu offered to them!!!
Whatever genuine, orthodox, real Catholicism may exist in the hearts of recent immigrants, is being weaned away from them. So that they will fall away from the faith, and their children will follow suit. Voting? Well, that is obvious: do just what HolaMTV tells you to do!!!


20 posted on 07/20/2004 3:34:52 PM PDT by thor76 (Vade retro, Draco! Crux sacra sit mihi lux!)
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