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“Most membership surveys don’t actually count who’s in the pews on Sunday”

I don’t know if it is being done elsewhere, but the Archdiocese of St. Louis has for the past two years been counting who’s in the pews.

rbmillerjr: Each time we moved, it was the same process. We filled out a “change of address /changing parish” form.

Thanks for the clarification of how the process works in your area. In agreement with my earlier-cited sources, you've kept the books straight because you filled out the proper forms:

Many Catholics drift from parish to parish without formally changing their membership

Now allow me to point out what rwa265 says about how members are counted in his area:

rwa265: I don’t know if it is being done elsewhere, but the Archdiocese of St. Louis has for the past two years been counting who’s in the pews.

So one diocese counts membership rolls, while another counts bodies in the pew. How does the latter know whether to count that body as Catholic? Allow me to direct your attention back to those earlier-cited sources, which said:

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."