Posted on 02/09/2005 6:15:55 AM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
bttt for JPII!
Why does this line strike me as funny?
Don't forget: Catholics are also cannibals. /sarcasm
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.
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.
Yep, that's true. Can't we all just get along?
Another article about the growth of Catholicism! Thank you.
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]
It isn't?
But .............. They done tolded me ...............
So9
I like the ring of "Southern Catholic Convention". (pronounced in the suthern waaay, o'course)
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!
Gee, some folks must be fasting from Free Republic today.
No blast of trumpets, flaming swords or freewheeling condemnation.
"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.
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.
"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.
"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?
You're just mad that the Mass was standing-room only.
Remember NCR also stands for the National Catholic Register,a fine Catholic paper with a traditional bent.
"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?
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