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15 Mar 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

To proclaim Christ crucified may indeed have been "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles" when Saint Paul wrote the First Letter to the Corinthians, but Christianity also appears to be losing its appeal in the United States. According to the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, three out of four Americans call themselves Christian, down from 86 percent who did so in a 1990 survey. Christianity is not losing ground to other religions but primarily to a rejection of organized religion altogether, the survey found. So many Americans now claim no religion at all (15 percent, up from 8 percent in 1990), that this category now outranks every other major U.S. religious group except Catholics and Baptists. In all, 25.1 percent of Americans identified themselves as Catholics in 2008, down from 26.2 percent in 1990. The decline would have been much greater were it not for the large influx of Catholic Latinos due to immigration. According to Barry Kosmin, the director of Trinity College's Institute for the Study of Secularism and Culture, the survey shows that "thanks to immigration and natural increase among Latinos, California now has a higher proportion of Catholics than New England. "The decline of Catholics in the Northeast is nothing less than stunning," Kosmin said. Catholic strongholds in New England and the Midwest are fading as immigrants, retirees, and young job-seekers settle in the Sun Belt. Despite population growth and immigration that has added nearly 50 million adults to the U.S., almost all religious denominations have lost ground since the first ARIS survey in 1990. The only category showing some growth is that of evangelical Christianity, and even that is becoming less identified with established traditions or churches. Source: Articles by Cathy Lynn Grossman, a blog post by Scott P. Richert for About.com Guide to Catholicism, and CatholicCulture.org

christianity american religious identification survey aris trinity college barry kosmin study of secularism and culture catholics
Catholics, come home for the holidays

06 Sep 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The reading from the Letter of James encourages us to show impartiality toward all who enter the assembly to worship. Officials of the Archdiocese of Chicago, concerned that two-thirds of area Catholics are not entering the assembly to attend Mass on a regular basis, will unveil a "Catholics Come Home" evangelization program this coming holiday season that will include a blitz of TV advertising. The exact number of ads has not been settled on, but they could reach 2,000 or more, meaning the average TV viewer in the Chicago area might see them 25 times during their five-and-a-half-week run, church officials said. The time is right for this type of evangelization effort because "we see a larger number of people inactive in their faith," said Nancy Polacek, the point person on Catholics Come Home for the archdiocese. The campaign ran last year in Phoenix, Arizona and Corpus Christi, Texas and results were considered impressive. "Our study indicated a 12-percent increase [in Sunday Mass attendance] across the board," said Ryan Hanning, coordinator of adult evangelization for the Diocese of Phoenix. Source: An article by ChicagoCatholicNews.com

Evangelization diocese of phoenix archdiocese of chicago chicago catholics come home advertisements television nancy polacek ryan hanning phoenix inactive catholics
Catholics, come home for the holidays

06 Sep 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The reading from the Letter of James encourages us to show impartiality toward all who enter the assembly to worship. Officials of the Archdiocese of Chicago, concerned that two-thirds of area Catholics are not entering the assembly to attend Mass on a regular basis, will unveil a "Catholics Come Home" evangelization program this coming holiday season that will include a blitz of TV advertising. The exact number of ads has not been settled on, but they could reach 2,000 or more, meaning the average TV viewer in the Chicago area might see them 25 times during their five-and-a-half-week run, church officials said. The time is right for this type of evangelization effort because "we see a larger number of people inactive in their faith," said Nancy Polacek, the point person on Catholics Come Home for the archdiocese. The campaign ran last year in Phoenix, Arizona and Corpus Christi, Texas and results were considered impressive. "Our study indicated a 12-percent increase [in Sunday Mass attendance] across the board," said Ryan Hanning, coordinator of adult evangelization for the Diocese of Phoenix. Source: An article by ChicagoCatholicNews.com

Evangelization diocese of phoenix archdiocese of chicago chicago catholics come home advertisements television nancy polacek ryan hanning phoenix inactive catholics
Not your father’s generation of Catholics

21 Feb 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Saint Paul’s assertion in the Letter to the Romans that “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all” was controversial at the time. A new survey designed to measure attitudes of “Catholic millennials” (American Catholics under 30) reveals that they hold some rather controversial positions. For instance, 61 percent said they believe it is OK for Catholics to practice more than one religion. Catholics under 30 share the commitment of older generations to philanthropy and volunteerism, the survey commissioned by the Knights of Columbus said, but are more likely to believe that morals “are relative.” The survey, conducted by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion in Poughkeepsie, New York, asked a wide range of questions about ideology, religious practices and beliefs, and life goals and feelings about the nation’s future. Researchers compared the answers across generations and among Catholics at large, practicing Catholics who attend services at least once a month, and Americans in general. When asked to choose among five long-term life goals, 31 percent of millennials chose “to be spiritual or close to God” as their top goal, the highest among any generation. Sixty-seven percent of all millennials and 71 percent of Catholic millennials said they had volunteered their time in the past 12 months, roughly equal to the percentages among other generations. A majority of Catholic millennials had donated money to a charity in the past year, and 65 percent were very or somewhat interested in learning more about their faith. But the survey also found a surprising 82 percent of Catholic millennials agreed with the statement that “morals are relative; that is, there is no definite right or wrong for everybody.” And only 25 percent of Catholic millennials said they attended religious services at least once a month. An article by Nancy Frazier O’Brien for Catholic News Service

catholics surveys catholic millennials
The distance between Beijing and Rome grows

24 Jul 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist loves the commands of the Lord, we hear this Sunday, and hates “every false way.” The Vatican Monday said a Chinese Catholic bishop ordained without papal approval last week is automatically excommunicated and lacks authority to govern his diocese. Relations between Beijing and Rome hit a new low as Pope Benedict XVI said in a statement that he “deplores” the way communist authorities are treating Chinese Catholics who want to remain faithful to Rome instead of the state-backed church. China’s state-sanctioned Catholic Church ordained Joseph Huang Bingzhang as bishop in Shantou city in southern Guangdong province on Thursday despite warnings he would not be recognized because the city has a Vatican-approved bishop. “Consequently, the Holy See does not recognize him . . . and he lacks authority to govern the Catholic community of diocese,” the Vatican statement said. Rome has expressed deepening concern and emphasized that willing participants in such ordinations face severe penalties under church law, including automatic excommunication for the ordained bishop and the consecrating bishops. In its statement the Vatican said Beijing authorities had coerced some bishops loyal to the Holy See to attend the ordination service against their will and praised them for trying to resist. A source in China said the bishops were accompanied to the event by police and that many of diocesan priests went into hiding days before the ordination but that some were found by government officials and had to attend to the ceremony. Chinese Catholics, believed to number between 8 and 12 million, are divided between those who are members of the church backed by the Communist Party and those loyal to the pope. The Vatican sees the right of the pope to appoint bishops as fundamental to church unity and an essential element of religious freedom. China's civil authorities consider it foreign interference. "The Holy See reaffirms the right of Chinese Catholics to be able to act freely, following their consciences and remaining faithful to the successor of Peter and in communion with the universal church," the Vatican statement said. Sources: Articles by John Thavis for Catholic News Service and Reuters

bishops china vatican chinese catholics
Catholics not in universal agreement on moral issues

30 Oct 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Jesus instructs the people not to follow the example of the scribes and the Pharisees, “for they preach but they do not practice.” Disappointment with the way members of the church hierarchy have handled the sex abuse scandal is one of the factors that has led to a weakening of Catholic deference to church authority in matters of sexual morality, according to a new study released Monday. The sweeping survey shows that over the last quarter-century U.S. Catholics have become increasingly likely to say that individuals, not church leaders, should have the final say on such issues as abortion, homosexuality, and divorce and remarriage. The trend holds true across generational and ideological divides, according to the survey. “It’s the core creedal sacramental issues that really matter to American Catholics, more than the external trappings of church authority,” said Michele Dillon, a sociologist at the University of New Hampshire and a coauthor of the report. While 83 percent of Catholics say the clergy sexual abuse scandal has hurt the bishops’ moral and political credibility and impaired the ability of priests "to meet the spiritual and pastoral needs of their parishioners," Catholic loyalty and identity remain remarkably strong. “By and large, Catholics like being Catholic,” said coauthor Mary Gautier of Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. Across the board, Catholics tend to agree on four key markers--the resurrection of Jesus (73 percent), helping the poor (67 percent), devotion to the Virgin Mar (64 percent), and the centrality of the sacraments (63 percent)—as core to their Catholicism. While Catholic loyalty persists, however, weekly Mass attendance continued to decline, from 44 percent to 31 percent over the survey’s quarter century. Those who go less than once a month has grown from 26 percent to 47 percent. “Monthly Mass has become the new weekly,” Dillon said. “Catholics are still remaining in touch with the sacraments and the Mass even though they’re not saying they need to go because it’s an externally imposed mandate from the hierarchy.” The survey also confirms that American Catholicism is also increasingly Latino, with about a third of Catholics in the United States identifying as Hispanic--a figure that has tripled in size in the past 25 years. Sources: Articles by David Gibson and Kevin Eckstrom for Religion News Serviceand Tom Roberts for the National Catholic Reporter

catholics united states catholic church
Brazilian Catholics migrating to other churches

08 Jul 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The Catholic Church in Brazil might take some solace from Saint Paul’s message in this Sunday’s selection from Second Corinthians, where he says he is content with his weaknesses, hardships, and constraints because “when I am weak, then I am strong.” That is due to the fact that fewer than two thirds of Brazilians now identify as Catholics, marking a record decline in the country with the largest Catholic population in the world.Just over 64 percent of the Brazilian population of 191 million identifies itself as Catholic, according to figures from the 2010 census. In the year 2000, when the last census was carried out, Catholics comprised almost 74 percent of the population. The fall since 1970 has been stunning: In that year, almost 92 percent of Brazilians self-identified as Catholic.Meanwhile, the number of Brazilian Christian evangelists has risen rapidly, up nearly a third in the last decade, from 15.4 to 22.2 percent. Demographer Joseph Eustace Diniz Alves, from the National School of Statistical Sciences, said that if the trend continues, the number of evangelicals will surpass that of Catholics in 20 or 30 years. If that happens, "The largest Catholic country in the world will cease to be Catholic," Alves said, adding that evangelical churches are taking over in the suburbs and the new middle class with a "theology of prosperity” which promises an improved economic life to those who join.Father Thierry Linard of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil said the data reflect an "institutional failure" of the Catholic Church. In his view, the church has been unable to respond as quickly to the migration patterns in the country as have Pentecostal churches. "The Assembly of God has much more penetration in the periphery. Where a community arises, soon a little church comes," he said, adding that in the Catholic Church, the "structure is more onerous." Sources: Articles by Agence France Presse and Denise Menchen and Fabio Brisolla for Folia de S. Paulo

catholics catholic church brazil evangelicals assemblies of god pentecostal churches national school of statistical sciences joseph eustace diniz alves thierry linard
Americans losing faith in organized religion

22 Jul 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The people of Jesus' time had such confidence in him that they “hastened … from all the towns” to get to his next destination ahead of him, we hear in this Sunday’s gospel. American’s confidence in the church or organized religion, on the other hand, continues a steady decline that started in the 1970s. And Catholics’ confidence is significantly lower than Protestants’, an updated Gallup poll revealed.Only 44 percent of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in "the church or organized religion" today. By contrast, in 1973, "the church or organized religion" was the most highly rated institution in Gallup's “confidence in institutions” measure, and it continued to rank first in most years through 1985.That began to change in the mid-to-late 1980s as confidence in organized religion first fell below 60 percent. Currently, 56 percent of Protestants express a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the church/organized religion, compared with 46 percent of Catholics. That is in line with an average 12-percentage-point difference in the two groups' confidence, according to Gallup polling from 2002 through 2012, with Protestants consistently expressing higher confidence.There are too few respondents of other specific religions to analyze separately; confidence among all other Americans combined, however, is only 29 percent, far less than either Protestants' or Catholics' confidence, Gallup reported. Sources: Articles by Lydia Saad for Gallup and Allison J. Althoff for Christianity Today

church catholics americans gallup poll institutional religion organized religion confidence

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