The pope is expected to praise the American church’s vibrancy during his visit, and there is much for the church to celebrate. Catholics are the biggest religious group in the United States, about 23 percent of the population, a proportion that has held steady. Many parishes are healthy, and some are growing, with the influx of immigrants, especially Hispanics.
A poll released on Sunday by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University showed a mixed performance review for the American bishops: 22 percent of Catholics are “very satisfied” with the bishops, 50 percent are “somewhat satisfied,” 21 percent are “somewhat dissatisfied,” and 6 percent are “very dissatisfied.” It is an improvement from 2002, the outbreak of the scandal.
But most priests, and even many bishops, will acknowledge the woes.
Of 18,634 parishes in 2007, 3,238 were without resident pastors. More than 800 parishes have been closed since 1995, most since 2000. (Some bishops are preparing their parishioners for more closings ahead.) The number of priests ordained in 2007 fell to 456, less than half the number of new priests in 1965. Nearly 3 in 10 Catholics who attend Mass weekly or more said they had been personally affected by the priest shortage, according to the Georgetown poll.
“There’s a crisis,” said William V. D’Antonio, a fellow of the Life Cycle Institute at the Catholic University of America. “We’re running out of priests. The average age of priests currently active is over 60. We have recruitment of new priests way below replacement level.”
The shortage of priests is a HUGE problem, but it’s not the only one costing the Roman Catholic Church dearly. If it weren’t for the massive influx of Mexican immigrants (legal and illegal), the RCs would be shrinking significantly. While it claims roughly a quarter of the American population (23% of about 300 million Americans is over 60 million), surveys show that at least 10% of RCs in the U.S. have left the Church and joined other denominations, and millions more are simply lapsed and inactive. On the other hand, at least 2-3 million Protestants have converted to Catholicism in recent years, including some very prominent Lutheran pastors and theologians as well as a growing number of Anglicans.
But just as the Church of England has a huge discrepancy between its reported baptized membership of some 26 million Brits and the actual number of practicing Anglicans in the C of E (less than 4 million), the same problem afflicts how the RCs report their membership numbers, which are grossly inflated. However, to their immense credit, Catholics have undertaken a radical and widespread program that addresses this problem of nominal membership by raising the bar significantly for those adults seeking to enter the RC Church. I am an enthusiastic supporter of the RCIA, the Rite for the Christian Initiation of Adults. This attempt to recover the ancient patristic model of the catechumanate as the NORMATIVE way that new members are admitted into the Christian community has incredible potential to renew and transform the Church. We have so much we could learn from our RC brothers and sisters, and not least in the crucial area of recovering the ancient catechumenate and restoring patristic models of Christian initiation to suit our new Post-Christendom social context.
David Handy+
NRA – Here I agree with your about using a theologically and liturgically well-grounded RCIA program for any(!) Anglican Church body.
Thanks, rob k (#2).
I’m actually writing a book on the subject. Alas, it’s sort of on the backburner for now. The tentative title? “GOD HAS NO GRANDCHILDREN: Restoring the Ancient Christian Catechumenate for our Post-Christendom Western World.”
FWIW, I just commended a post of yours over on SF. If we think so much alike, would you be interested in joing the elite ranks of the NRAFC? (grin)
David Handy+
NRA – Thanks. When I’m dome on this site I’ll go over to SF and read your post. If necessary, I’ll post a comment back to you on this thread. If I can post it on SF, I shall, but there are many site that I seem to have trouble commenting on, logistically speaking. Agree or not agree, I always find your posts interesting.
NRA – I suddenly get the NRAFC ! Yes, I’ll join, as long as I can dissent if necessary!.
NRA – I surfed through a lot of SF comments, and could not find your commendation mentioned in no. 2 above. Please direct me to the right thread and date. Thx.
NRA – Sorry, I mean your mention in post no. 3.
rob k,
I’m sorry to be slow in responding. I went surfing too and couldn’t find the comment I alluded to in my #3 either. Maybe it was another T19 thread. Oh, well, it really doesn’t matter much. I’m sorry for the confusion and wasted time.
Anyway, about the NRA Fan Club, of course all members have the right of vigorous dissent with me. It would be a dull and insipid group if we were all totally like-minded. And if there’s anything we hate in the NRAFC more than heresy, it would be boredom.
As I’ve said elsewhere, the primary requirements for joining the NRAFC are twofold: 1. We take this crisis in Anglicanism over the clash of worldviews very, very seriously. And 2. We try not to take ourselves too seriously in the process.
Anyway, welcome aboard the NRAFC. And as I’ve also said elsewhere, as one of the first 100 people to join our prestigious fellowship, all normal membership dues are waived, and you will be enrolled as a “Charter Member” of this illustrious, feisty, disputatious group.
David Handy+
NRA – Glad to be a charter member!. Thx. for getting back. I’ll stil surf around and se if I can find your commendqation.