|
1982 |
2009 |
|
|
Priests |
882 |
482 |
|
Parishes |
256 |
220 |
|
Seminarians |
89 |
28 |
|
Catholic school students |
38,531 |
30,212 |
|
Catholic population |
506,000 |
476,189 |
|
Catholic marriages |
4,427 |
2,112 |
This is the table for the Cincinnati Inquirer that shows the state of the Catholic Church in 1982 when he became the archbishop of Cincinnati and as it is today when he leaves it.
Ohio is a declining state, and the small shrinkage in parishes and number of Catholics and Catholic school students is not unexpected.
However, the decline in the number of priests, seminarians, and especially marriages shows that the level of adult commitment to Catholicism is about half what it is when he took over. The decline in marriages is especially significant. It would be interesting to see the figures for baptism and confirmation.
Usually such massive declines have occurred only in times of extreme crisis such as the Reformation or the French Revolution. To have such a decline (and it is paralleled in other areas of North America and Europe) shows that the Catholic Church s undergoing a crisis as severe as the better known historical ones.
Yet Pilarczyk thinks that all is basically well, at least in the areas that he controls:
“We have to avoid the trap of equating numbers with quality. Would I be happier if we had more priests? Sure I would. But it doesn’t mean catastrophe has struck because we have fewer … Today we’ve got lay ministers and professional people working with the priests. In the old days, there was a pastor, a school principal and a maintenance man. Today, (the pastor) has a staff.”
Pilarczyk blames “secularity” but conservative Protestant churches have shown vitality during the same period. The Gallup Poll shows that as Catholic attendance has declined, Protestant attendance has risen.
In 1955, adult Catholics of all ages attended church at similar rates, with between 73% and 77% saying they attended in the past week. By the mid-1960s, weekly attendance of young Catholics (those 21 to 29 years of age) started to wane, falling to 56%, while attendance among other age groups dropped only slightly, to around 70%. By the mid-1970s, only 35% of Catholics in their 20s said they had attended in the past week, but attendance was also starting to fall among those in their 30s, 40s, and 50s.
Attendance for most of the groups continued to fall from the 1970s to the 1990s. However, over the past decade it has generally stabilized, particularly among Catholics in their 20s and 30s.
Across this entire period, attendance among Catholics aged 60 and older has dropped from 73% to 58%.
But if “secularity” is the cause of this drop in Church attendance why has Protestant attendance risen?
The picture in attendance by age is entirely different among Protestants. Apart from a temporary dip in weekly church attendance among 21- to 29-year-old Protestants in the 1960s and 1970s, attendance has stayed the same or increased among all the age groups. It even rebounded among young Protestants in the 1980s, and is now close to 1950s levels.
Because the liberal, main-line churches are in long-term decline, this increase must be in the more conservative churches.
Pilarczyk may have saved the finances of the archdiocese by setting aside 3 M for victims (although I estimate the life-long financial damage to each victim at 500,000 – 1,000,000) but he has not saved the heart of the church– but that is not his concern.
People I have talked to who have become Evangelical Protestants inevitably tell of being attracted by the dynamic preaching, strong sense of community, and focus on Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Those groups whose ministers are exemplary (not “prosperity Gospel” types), and who have a social conscince are very attractive. I have worked with some of these folks and admit to feeling charmed. As Father Benedict Groeschel (no liberal!) said, a religion without a hierarchy and with strong loving community life IS attractive. But believing in the sacramental system, and yes, apostolic succession, I have to stick to the Catholic Church. I trust Jesus knew what he was doing in giving us the Church, but I find it hard to believe he’s happy with how it’s been run and managed. Maybe our leaders will wake up when the mass exodus makes it impossible to maintain the fancy chanceries and Bishops’ palaces.
I ask:
When was the last time that u hear to preach that Jesus is the Lord, without any apologies for it?
I have been a cathequist and let me tell u that the books that i used left a lot to be desire. All the chapters were about how good God is, that he loves us just the way we r.
Nothing about sin, conversion, sacrifice, love for the churh etc.
Evangelicals preach about the fires of hell, the promises of heaven.
Just the other day in my job a fellow teacher came to invite me to go to his mega – church in Manhattan even though i told her that i was a practicing Catholic she handle me a small card with the address and name of her place of worship.
In one word we catholics r not teach to EVANGELIZE cause bishops and priest most of them don’t do it themselves.
Well said, Father Michael. But the problem with hierarchy — especially the centralized, bureaucratic hierarchy employed by the Church — is that such hierarchies inevitably become isolated from the people they claim to serve, foster arrogance in the leadership and discourage any sort of internal accountability so that those in power can keep their power. For example, how often has canon law been applied to recalcitrant, incompetent, malfeasant bishops? This is exactly why the clerical sex-abuse scandal became such a worldwide phenomenon; it reflected centuries-long systemic corruption on a grand scale. No appeals to apostolic authority can change that.
Tony, I agree there’s a lot of feelgood catechesis. I teach 6th graders, and pretty much run the class without reference to the textbook, which by the way is pretty substantial.
The catechesis problem is that badly catechized catechists are badly catechizing their students. The only way to break out of this negative loop is for catechists to learn their faith at an adult level on their own, or if there are substantial RCIA/ adult classes at their parish, to take those before taking on catechizing others.
“it reflected centuries-long systemic corruption on a grand scale.”
Yes…going all the way back to the original 12.
Christian, it also would help if training in catechesis included substantial Bible study.
Joseph, you are so right: there is no substitute for Bible literacy. 10 years ago when my wife and I taught RCIA, we chucked the textbook entirely, and made our own Bible-based syllabus.
Likewise, in my 6th grade class Catholicism is taught from the Bible, not the textbook or the Catechism, although they serve as references. As I posted elsewhere at this blog, this may be more characteristic of Bible Belt Catholicism.
“Because the liberal, main-line churches are in long-term decline, this increase must be in the more conservative churches.”
I think it’s also due to the popularity of what may be called ‘entreprenurial’ churches.
Please pray for the spread of the orthodox new movements which have a proposal on these points.
A recent example of not listening to lay people would be the change in the format of the Catholic Telegraph. Have you talked with anyone who likes the recent format. Now there is NO catholic news from the US & around the world, NO Question Box, No dialog.