Posted on 01/10/2014 10:15:47 AM PST by NYer
.- The story of the U.S. Catholic Church in the early 21st century is one of excitement and renewal, say two authors of a book that examines successful dioceses, bishops and priests.
“The priesthood is growing. There are also vibrant signs of life among the laity and throughout the Church. Those stories need to be told,” Christopher White, the director of education and programs at the California-based Center for Bioethics and Culture, told CNA Dec. 12.
White is the co-author of “Renewal,” a new book from Encounter Books which makes the case that Catholicism is recovering from decades of “faithless practice” and confusion.
He said this recovery is especially evident in parishes that express “a stronger Catholic identity.”
His co-author, Anne Hendershott, who is a sociology professor and director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at Franciscan University of Steubenville, said writing the book has given her new appreciation for U.S. Catholicism.
“I haven’t been as excited about the religion as I am now,” she said. “There have been times when I was discouraged and I believed the media presentations of the religion as being in decline.”
The book “Renewal” focuses on areas where the Catholic Church is showing revitalization. Ordination rates to the priesthood are at a 20-year high, and the average age of new priests continues to decline. Ten years ago, the Church struggled under the weight of the clergy sexual abuse scandal; now many seminaries are at full capacity.
The new generation of priests consists of men who are “wholly committed” to their vocation and consider celibacy “a grace and benefit to ministry,” White said.
“They are unafraid to be counter-cultural,” he added. “I think in previous generations...you had individuals that in some ways wanted to straddle both worlds and in some ways make the priesthood and the Church as well conform to the ways of the world.”
He drew on his own experience as a convert to Catholicism, which was “very different” from what he had heard about the Catholic faith in his upbringing and in cultural commentary.
“If you would have asked me 10 years ago to describe the Catholic Church, [I would have said it was] a dated institution with a dying membership whose teachings were confusing, whose members were negligent in the practice of their faith.”
Attending church in Manhattan, he instead found “very solid” parishes with “dynamic” parish priests.
Both John Paul II and Benedict XVI helped provide “definitive interpretations” of the Second Vatican Council, the book's authors continued. Unity and outspokenness among the bishops have increased, while dissenting Catholic factions have declined in prominence.
“Catholicism has always stood for something, but we didn’t always have bishops who were able to project that very well,” Hendershott said. “They seemed reticent, reluctant to talk about the truth of the religion. And now we have all these great priests and bishops that are talking about it. And they’re not
embarrassed about it, they’re not ashamed.”
The book emphasizes the role of bishops in creating a fruitful culture in their dioceses. It examines dioceses that have “transformational leaders,” outlining their best practices.
Bishops who are clear about Catholic teaching and “bold in defending the Church in the public square” attract more people, White said.
Hendershott stressed that Catholicism is not simply about morality and the Catechism. Rather, people are “drawn to the beauty of the religion.”
In dioceses where bishops can express this beauty through music, liturgy, and homilies, she said, “you are going to have flourishing vocations.”
She added that a demanding form of religion, rather than a lax one, tends to attract.
“The more a religion asks of believers, the more vibrant that religion will be. There’s got to be a reason for people to be part of a religion, or else they’ll just go to the movies,” she said, citing sociologist Rodney Stark.
Hendershott and White both see room for continued improvement, especially in Catholic higher education.
“Renewal is on the way, but we’re not fully there yet,” White said.
Many institutions of Catholic higher education need to do better in helping pass on the faith to future generations and encouraging new vocations, he said.
“We’ve got to get that right,” he emphasized.
This is unbelievably perplexing to me. I know for a fact that at least once a week I run across an article about the decline of the faith and church membership in the U.S.
Does anyone really keep official, accurate and vetted numbers?
This is unbelievably perplexing to me. I know for a fact that at least once a week I run across an article about the decline of the faith and church membership in the U.S.
Does anyone really keep official, accurate and vetted numbers?
20 million Mexicans running into the room in the last 2 decades, and fanning out across the country explains it pretty well.
Praise God for this miracle!
A small factor.
The packed to overflowing RCIA classes are the reason, not that "it's Mesikans" trash.
Christ is just about done winnowing down the Church He founded the way He winnowed down Gideons' Army and is now drawing in sincere folks who realize they've been misled.
Even more disturbing for the anti-Catholic hardcore is the fact that RCIA classes are full of young folks with families.
As part of an RCIA team in my parish, there are 5 adults, two of whom have not been baptized, 3 others as candiates, who not finished their first 3 sacraments. A good and positive sign. All young adults.
Plus also keep a close eye on Pope Francis, who is not afraid to preach the Gospel.
Rather, Christ is calling more folks to follow Him BIGTIME.
Make up your mind! Posted just two days ago....
Current surveys and polls tell a consistent story: a large number of Catholics who attended Mass in their youth have ceased in adulthood. Many reasons are given to explain this exodus, but one spiritual reason towers above all the quotidian ones: love for God has diminished in the hearts of those who purposely stay home. In other words, they have lost the faith.
-- from the thread On Losing the Faith
This article does not contradict the other.
In short, no.
Vast differences in theology and accounting practices make it nearly impossible to really know how many members a church body has, whether active or occasional worshippers. That, in turn, makes side-by-side comparisons nearly impossible....Often a church's understanding of membership -- how it is started, how it is maintained and how it can be revoked -- influences counts........Roman Catholics, the largest U.S. church with a reported 69 million members, start counting baptized infants as members and often don't remove people until they die. Most membership surveys don't actually count who's in the pews on Sunday....That means it is possible, for example, to be born Catholic, married Methodist, die Lutheran and still be listed as a member of the 1 billion-member Roman Catholic Church. "The Catholic understanding of membership is that a person becomes a member upon baptism and remains a member for life," Gautier said. "Whether you show up at church or not is not what determines whether you're a member."
-- from the thread When It Comes to Church Membership Numbers, the Devil's in the DetailsDemographer Mary Gautier of the center said counting Catholics is really more art than science because parish rolls may not be up to date. Many Catholics drift from parish to parish without formally changing their membership and often don't report deaths in their families, the newspaper said.
-- from the thread Roman Catholics total 64 million in U.S. ["counting Catholics is really more art than science"]
The factor.
Importing 10s and 10s of millions of Catholics and their resulting families consisting of many 10s of millions, has had little effect on total Catholic numbers, since 1965 when our population was 194 million and the year of JFK’s dream, the 1965 Immigration Act, to today when we have 314 million people and entire states are becoming Hispanic, the Catholic numbers only increased by about 21 million during that half century of mass Catholic immigration.
One of many factors.
AMEN.
Thank-you for posting this excellent article.
Give it a rest Alex Murphy, just go ahead and become Catholic already!
You can’t whine that much about numbers and be that jealous that no one listens to you without a deep seated desire, so come on aboard and count yourself a sucker. Come on home.
Nobody here cares how many Catholics there are, they just want MORE.
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