Bible-belt Catholics

TIME ^ | 2/7/2005 | Tim Padgett

[sinkspur]

Eight years ago, a handful of Roman Catholic families in Huntersville, a suburb of Charlotte, N.C., started a new parish. The home of their church, St. Mark, was a bowling alley. Our Lady of the Lanes, as they jokingly called it, was an apt symbol of the scarcity--and supple ingenuity--of Catholics in a region known as the buckle of the Protestant Bible Belt. Soon St. Mark was gaining a family a day. Now its almost 2,800 families hear Mass in a cavernous gymnasium as they await completion of a new church. Among the newcomers is Ben Liuzzo, 54, a financial-services manager who a few years ago moved his family from New York to North Carolina. He had thought Catholics in the area might be as outnumbered as Jews or Muslims--and that the meager church life that did exist wouldn't engage his 14-year-old son. Instead, the Liuzzos are attending standing-room-only services like St. Mark's teen Mass, complete with a pop-music ensemble that could be mistaken for one of the area's rollicking Christian rock bands. "This I was not prepared for," says Liuzzo, who flashes a smile at a recent service as an altar girl marches a crucifix past 1,000 parishioners.

Yankee transplants like the Liuzzos aren't the only ones helping fill the pews in the Charlotte diocese. Mexican immigrants are the fastest-growing group, and Hispanics as a whole make up half the diocese's 300,000 Catholics. Thousands of Vietnamese and Filipino Catholics are settling in too. "I've wondered often how bishops in the Northeast handled the waves of immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries," says Bishop Peter Jugis, 47, who took over the diocese in 2003. "It's exciting." It also transcends demographics: the newcomers are practicing a more conservative Catholicism than their brethren in many other parts of the country.

[Jonx6]

bttt for JPII!

[A Ruckus of Dogs]

In an area where many consider Catholics idolaters,

Why does this line strike me as funny?

[mike182d]

Don't forget: Catholics are also cannibals. /sarcasm

[pissant]

I'm not sure if Kansas is officially part of the Bible Belt, but I think the state is predominantly Catholic, judging by my time spent working there.

[MineralMan]

Well, now that gays have taken the place of Catholics and Jews as the focus of hatred from some Christian denominations, things are a little better.

But, you'll still see messages here from people who consider the RCC to be the home of the Antichrist.

[A Ruckus of Dogs]

Yep, that's true. Can't we all just get along?

[Salvation]

Another article about the growth of Catholicism! Thank you.

[Salvation]

Bible-belt Catholics

Number of Catholics Rises by 15 Million (Diocesan Priests Increase; Religious Decrease)

Spanish Catholicism still very robust (3 shrines and The Sagrada Familia)

Catholics outsource praying to India

Catholic Priests in India 'Outsourced' to Meet Clergy Shortage in West

Christian Coalition head (in Ala.) becomes Catholic

Church growth continues for Catholic and Pentecostals; six mainline denominations decline

Young people turn against their parents' 'church lite'

Pope calls US Church to repentance and renewal

A father for the 11th time - Widower becomes Catholic priest

Number of Adults Who Don't Attend Church Service Doubles

Huge Christian growth shocks China's leaders

Church Attendance Increased : Protestants have now clearly overtaken Catholics in church attendance

Catholics Trail Protestants in Church Attendance [Gallup]

Church Attendance Linked to Longer Life

Church Growth and Eveangelism

[Servant of the 9]

But, you'll still see messages here from people who consider the RCC to be the home of the Antichrist.

It isn't?

But .............. They done tolded me ...............

So9

[Jaded]

I like the ring of "Southern Catholic Convention". (pronounced in the suthern waaay, o'course)

[madprof98]

Good find! Thanks for posting it. I really, really agree with this observation in the piece:

Indeed, many Sunbelt Catholics say their mission is to rescue the church from what they consider to be the murky faith of liberal Catholic figures like former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

It's not just that Catholics here in Atlanta are more conservative than the ones I grew up with in the Midwest. It's that they take their faith much more seriously. I am amazed at what parishioners in adult education classes are concerned with. They have actually read about what Catholics are supposed to believe and about the issues facing the church--and not just in NCR!

[siunevada]

teen Mass, complete with a pop-music ensemble....an altar girl marches a crucifix past 1,000 parishioners.

Gee, some folks must be fasting from Free Republic today.

No blast of trumpets, flaming swords or freewheeling condemnation.

[Mershon]

"Indeed, many Sunbelt Catholics say their mission is to rescue the church from what they consider to be the murky faith of liberal Catholic figures like former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry."

Amen. Amen. Amen. And they have barely even tipped the iceberg by talking to all the people in Charlotte. Fr. Newman in Greenville is a good start, though.

He is my former pastor and is phenomenal! We have lots of big families, homeschoolers and the Traditional Latin Mass.

Its too bad they led off the article with the stupid LifeTeen thing (especially in light of the recent allegations against the founders of LifeTeen), but being challenged in one's faith makes one learn ones Faith.

As a former Chicagoan, now Bible Belt Catholic, we are prepared to defend the Faith and spread Catholic culture in the Bible Belt.

The fundies are somewhat scared as well.

[jrny]

We have lots of big families, homeschoolers and the Traditional Latin Mass.

Do the math...the Catholic Church, in the US at least, will be purified in the next 20 years with real Catholics far outnumbering the old gray liberals.

Add the state of NJ to this phenomenon. I predict, according to current trends, that NJ is going to see a rising TLM culture, to which large families are a given. From there, we re-Catholicize the entire NE.

[Mershon]

"From there, we re-Catholicize the entire NE."

And it needs it because there certainly aren't a lot of friendly NE transplants in our parish to orthodoxy nor the Mass of All Ages.

[corpus]

"Gee, some folks must be fasting from Free Republic today."


Guess so. Or they didn't read the link. Here's the full quote that you started:

"Instead, the Liuzzos are attending standing-room-only services like St. Mark's teen Mass, complete with a pop-music ensemble that could be mistaken for one of the area's rollicking Christian rock bands. "This I was not prepared for," says Liuzzo, who flashes a smile at a recent service as an altar girl marches a crucifix past 1,000 parishioners."

Teen "Masses", "Christian" rock bands, Communion in the hand, and altar girls - what's the difference between these rockin' "Catholics" and their Bible-belt separated brethren? Is this the so-called "New Springtime", sinkspur?

[sinkspur]

You're just mad that the Mass was standing-room only.

[ardara]

Remember NCR also stands for the National Catholic Register,a fine Catholic paper with a traditional bent.

[corpus]

"You're just mad that the Mass was standing-room only."


Doesn't leave much room to boogie to the "Christian" rock diddies at "Mass" now, does it?

[Salvation]

Catholic Parishes Flourish in Southern U.S.

[Pio]

"Teen "Masses", "Christian" rock bands, Communion in the hand, and altar girls - what's the difference between these rockin' "Catholics" and their Bible-belt separated brethren?"

This is pretty much standard for Novus Ordo masses...it's time to get over all this and just go to the liturgy that you feel most comfortable in. Altar girl parishes will produce no vocations, Life Teen masses are in the process of being supressed, communion in the hand is a more subtle indignity that may take another 100 years to peter out. Things will get more outrageous for the next three years (new USCCB liturgy head is a poofter) ... ultimately people will see through the facade and return to traditional ways of doing things. Protestant converts will find themselves coming to the Tridentine as they really start to digest the idea of the Real Presense...the community meal services will pale in comparison.

[Coleus]

I was in Charlotte on vacation a few years ago and went to this church run by the Capuchins. It's big. Charlotte has a lot of transplants from NJ and NY. There's a big IBM plant nearby as well as the college and the speedway a couple of blocks away and downtown is the banking capital of the south.

http://www.st-thomas-aquinas-rcc.org/parishinfo.asp

[Incorrigible]

What I find humorous is when these lay southern converts to Catholicism come up to New Jersey and try to host some type of retreat.  In my current and my previous parish, both offers went over like a lead balloon.  The recent convert evangelism just doesn't click with cradle to grave, church going Catholics in the Northeast and big Midwest cities. 

I had a similar experience when I lived in Redmond, WA and the church there seemed composed of mostly converts.  I felt like I was in a Pentecostal Church!  I left that parish for a more toned down one in Kirkland.

[doug from upland]

Laura Ingraham converted last year.

[Clemenza]

Lots of Catholics in the KC-Overland Park area, due to the large migration of Southern Germans, Irish, and (to a lesser extent) Italians to that area at the turn of the last century. Rest of the state is very mixed. Wichita has a large population of both Catholics and Evangelicals, with few mainliners.

I believe Louisiana is the most Catholic state outside of the Northeast. Rhode Island is the only state where Catholics are in the majority, btw.

[Clemenza]

The cradle to grave Catholics in the Northeast are merely Episcopalians who lie about using birth control. This New Yorker knows tons of people who refer to themselves as "Catholic" even though they can't explain the doctrine of transfiguration and know NOTHING about the bible.

[Clemenza]

What do you have against female altar servers? I'm a guy, but it aint like altar servers are "future priests." Most former altar boys I know (hello dad!) did not enter the priesthood. My dad told me that he and his friends were often pressured by the creepy priests to join "youth seminaries" but that they for the most part refused.

BTW: Latin is the gutter language of the Roman Empire. Bring back Aramaic, and maybe I will start attending again.

[Salvation]

I was aware of Dick Morris, Sam Brownback but was not aware of Laura Ingraham.

Thanks.

[doug from upland]

Dick Morris became Catholic? Where did you see that?

[Coleus]

Columnist Robert Novak converted from Judaism to Catholicism in 1998; Robert Bork married an ex-nun and later converted.

[franky]

###"doctrine of transfiguration"###???

Do you mean transubstantiation?

[Clemenza]

You realize you're an alcoholic when you repeat yourself.

You realize you're an alcoholic when you repeat yourself.

[Clemenza]

Really? And I thought Novak was a hardcore anti-semite /sarcasm.

[NYer]

Bring back Aramaic, and maybe I will start attending again.

Welcome to the Maronite Catholic Church where the Consecration is in Aramaic, using the words and language of Christ at the Last Supper. Communion is ONLY distributed by the priest. It is by intinction (the priest dips the consecrated host into the Precious Blood) and is ONLY received on the tongue. The priest administers communion with the words: "Receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of sin and eternal salvation".

Aramaic Consecration

Byow mo how daq dom ha sho dee leh
ma' bed hy eh
nsa bel lah mo be dow qa dee sho to.
Ou ba rekh
ou qa desh
waq so
ou ya bel tal mee dow kad o mar:
Sab a khool meh neh kul khoon:
Ho no den ee tow faghro deel
day lo fy koun wah lof sagee hey
meh teq seh ou meh tee heb
lhoo so yo dhow beh was ha yeh dal 'o lam
'ol meen.

English Translation

On the day before his life-giving passion,
Jesus took bread in his holy hands.
He blessed,
sanctified,
broke,
and gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take and eat it, all of you:
This is my body
which is broken and delivered for you
and for many,
for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

[Pio]

Pope John Paul II has described altar servers as a "garden for vocations." Cardinal Arinze stressed this again when asked by Raymond Arroyo on World Over Live. he said, if the Priest is a good Priest then he will serve as a model as will a good policeman, a good teacher, a good businessman...it stands to reasonthat if a priest a good priest there will be boys who will come along, hearing God's call.

Conversely, he intoned, if a priest is not generating vocations, he most certainly must be a bad one.

The priests you had were mostly bad ones, sounds like. If as boys, you perceived them as creepy, then I suspect your perception was a good one...children can be very good at detecting evil...your parents did well with you.

In the end it stands to reason that if you flood the priesthood with homosexuals...then young boys will want nothing to do with the priesthood...this is by design and part of a deliberate plan.

So it is true...in a highly homosexualized priesthood , sending up girls is a smart manuever, they will be very safe. What do I have against girl servers? There is no history of girl servers...not in 1960 years of the Catholic Church. Then just recently , American Bishops started using them...it was done to start planting the seeds of a female priesthood. Many Catholic females are calling for a female priesthood . They have been admitted to seminaries as lay students to rub elbows with the priests-in-training. A Boston College educated lawyer who works for the Bishop of Worcester Mass. came to my parish mouthing off about female ordination. This BITCH is ready to grab a colar for herself....she'll get it sooner or later, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis notwithstanding.

[Pio]

BTW: Latin is the gutter language of the Roman Empire.

Latin is a lovely language it is THE language of the Church. It is excellent in its precision, having avoided the machinations of modern lingiusts who have introduced ambiguity & wordiness into it. I refer you to the Catechism of the Catholic Church which speaks lovingly of Latin. I studied it for two years in high school and will encourage my children to do so....but such intellectual endeavors may indeed be wasted on you.

[Pio]

"doctrine of transfiguration and know NOTHING about the bible."

Please explain this doctrine of tranfiguration.

[Puddleglum]

What do you have against female altar servers? I'm a guy, but it aint like altar servers are "future priests."

When I was an altar boy they were also called "acolytes," which sort of implied future priesthood as at least a possibility. I don't like the idea of altar girls, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I lose more sleep over wierd music directors - all schisms begin in the music department!

[Incorrigible]

I take it you mean Transubstantiation!

Yes, I was given several Bibles to read by Catholic Priests, Nuns and lay people over the years.  As an adult, I've probably spent more time reading technical manuals and books than I have reading the Bible but then perhaps God called me to my career.

Not all northeast Catholics are CINOs!  Yes, of course they are the majority but I specifically mentioned "church going" Catholics in my post.  Yes, there are hypocrites among us; some recognize that fact and are their because they know they are sinners. 

I would say that Catholics from other parts of the country would find Catholic Mass in the northeast rather dour but that's the way I like it (I'm in my 30's by the way).  It is humorous when recent converts of anything preach to the choir (so to speak).  I don't doubt the sincerity of these southern lay missionaries and I'm sure some people could use their message.

[Clemenza]

The WORST are the masses in France, Spain, and Italy. For some strange reason, the Churches their tend to have alot of GUITAR masses. What is this, 1961? Get ye back to the Kingston Trio you beatniks!

[Clemenza]

I had TOO MUCH TO DRINK when I wrote that. I KNOW its "transubstantiation." ;-)

[Clemenza]

I have an MA and an MBA you snobbish Jebbie wannabe! The MA required me to master another language, and no, it wasn't Latin, a language that should be allowed to die.

[NJ Neocon]

There is no Salvation outside the Roman Catholic Church

Oh come now. You sound as bad as some Evangelicals.

Condemninmg our Protestant bretheren? I think not.

[St.Chuck]

That's interesting about Dick Morris. I hadn't heard that.

I get to frequently listen to Laura Ingraham on my local Clear Channel station. She makes a lot of comments regarding her Catholicism...and others' catholicism. Said she liked the quarterback for the New England Patriots, Tom Brady, because he a "good Catholic man". Mentioned the actor Mark Wahlberg requesting access to mass during filming in Canada. She has made numerous other comments regarding her faith and gives the overall impression that she is very excited to be a Catholic. As she should be, of course.:o)

[St.Chuck]

I have an MA and an MBA you snobbish Jebbie wannabe!

That's a gloriously funny sentence. LOL

[jrny]

In novissimo tempore, filius meus primogenitus natus est. Loquor et doceo Latinem eo in omnibus diebus. Oramus (uxor mea et ego) in lingua Latina quando orantes Rosarii.

Non! Lingua Latina non morietur! Lingua Latina vivat semper!

Forte, alii personii in hoc "blog" adjuvabunt te ad intellegendum verba mea.

[Pio]

This has always been the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church (established 33AD) ... it is in no way a personal assertion.

[Mershon]

"I don't doubt the sincerity of these southern lay missionaries and I'm sure some people could use their message."

As a former northern Catholic my entire life (Chicago, not the Northeast, Deo Gratias!), who lives in Greenville, SC, I thank God I moved to the Bible belt so I can rediscover true Catholicism (Hint: It begins by going to confession regularly, something I am certain most NE Catholics do not understand)and take part in this spiritual rebirth.

If not for the Evangelicals knocking at my door challenging my Faith. And I am NOT a convert. Although, every time we pray and partake of the sacraments, especially confession, we are converting.

And there are many more like me in their early 40s, 30s and 20s even. And it is gaining force and momentum.

"If you build it, they will come."