One out of every 10 evangelicals is a former Catholic.
That’s what a new study on American religion says. And because of it, evangelical Christianity has supplanted Roman catholicism as the nation’s largest Christian group. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released the findings of their study, giving the results: Evangelical Protestants outnumber Catholics by 26.3 percent (59 million) to 24 percent (54 million) of the population. Although one in three Americans are raised Roman Catholic, only one in four adults describe themselves as such, and 10% of all members of evangelical churches are ex-Catholics. That’s 5.9 million people.
We can all ask why 25% of people raised Catholic leave the Church. We can always blame the influence of the self-destructing secular culture, but that has always been with us. Is it because the Catholic Church has often sold itself down the river by abandoning solid catechesis and not proclaiming boldly and with joy what the Truth is?
The Catholic Church has always had the shabbiness of bad architecture, uninspired preaching, off-key singers and so on. What it did have though, was catechized people who knew their Lord was present despite the Church’s human failings. People could sit through anything because they knew the Eucharist was the primary source of divine life. However, add 40 years of mediocre, watered-down catechesis to the usual cultural decline since the 60s and…. can it be that all that is left is ignorance and ugliness except for a few remnant pockets here and there?
But there is good news. Catholics still remain pretty steady in their numbers at 24%. It could be worse: the traditional mainline Protestant churches, which in 1957 constituted about 66 percent of the populace, now count just 18 percent as adherents.
February 26, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Is it because the Catholic Church has often sold itself down the river by abandoning solid catechesis and not proclaiming boldly and with joy what the Truth is?
That choice gets my vote.
February 26, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Thank you, Modernist Catechists, and the heretic bishops who were your commanders. Your may take 90% of the credit for this.
February 27, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Actually the author of the article fails to point out that there is no monolithic “Evangelical Church”, and when you go to the actual source data (http://religions.pewforum.org/affiliations) and expand all the little arrows under “Evangelical Churchs” you see there are 16 demoninations and over 50 seperate sects, the largest of which is the Southern Baptist Sect, which has only 6.7% of the population. Under the Catholic Church, no little arrows, just one number and it’s 4 times the size of the Southern Baptists. Now don’t get me wrong, the Church has issues, and poor teaching is leading to a loss in faithful. But to point to the every fracturing proestant sects as “growing” is an outright lie and an illusion. They create a new sect every time they discuss what color rugs to put in their churchs.
February 27, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I guess I never get things right because I went in the opposite direction.
February 27, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Aside from a handful of (reconcilable) theological discrepancies and some lamentable historical nastiness, I really think that the Catholic and evangelical churches make natural partners in reaching a lost world. Their strengths naturally complement each other. Granted, each has its own flaws, blemishes and weaknesses, as well. But Christ is made perfect in our weaknesses.
I am very optimistic about the state of Christianity going forward.
February 27, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Actually, the Pew stats seem low to me. I’m a Catholic convert and a former pastor of an evangelical congregation. A full third of my congregation, and the congregations of other evangelical pastors I knew, were former Catholics.
February 27, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I suspect it also has to do with area of the country. The Baptist church I attended while growing up in NJ was probably 1/3rd former Catholic, whereas the evangelical (nondenominational) church I currently attend in KY is perhaps 1/25th former Catholic.
February 27, 2008 at 5:01 pm
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February 27, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Don’t worry. If the Catholic bishops get their way, about 4 million illegal alien Catholics per year will continue to cross the border and flood the schools, hospitals, and neighborhoods. But they’ll show up for church. So, who cares. Right?
February 27, 2008 at 6:19 pm
The illegals…lol… are why our figure of 24% of the population remains the same. There is an odd silver lining in this new report. Pew polls in the past have shown that evangelicals more dependably vote against pro choice candidates than Catholic do. So it’s better than leaking them to a pro-choice church.
February 28, 2008 at 2:54 am
bilannon,
“So it’s better than leaking them to a pro-choice church”
No it’s not; It’s better for them to go to confession and go forth and sin no more.
February 28, 2008 at 2:52 pm
I disagree Anonymous.
We are all saved by Christ, and through His Church -The Catholic Church. We know where the Holy Spirit IS (the Catholic Church), but we cannot say where he is NOT.
We know the Catholic Church has the Fullness of Truth. But as church teaching tells us, Evangelicals, as Protestants in general, have facets of the Truth.
I would rather see, IMHO, former Catholics living “authentic” Christ filled as Evangelicals than living as wishy washy schleppy Catholics.
February 28, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Sadly, while it is true that facets of the truth do exist in other churches, and that the fullness of Truth exists only within the Catholic Church, the benefits of “Catholics living “authentic” Christ filled lives as Evangelicals rather than as wishy washy schleppy Catholics” only extends to those Evangelicals who were not born into our Faith. Former Catholics cannot receive salvation, having rejected the fullness of truth, particularly those who “re-baptize” themselves, committing the only unforgivable sin listed in the NT — the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which the Church has pointedly remarked occurs when someone gets baptized a second time. It is Church dogma that while Protestants can and do receive their final reward in Heaven, former Catholics cannot unless they repent before passing. And those that had themselves “baptized” again, are in huge trouble.
How God sorts this all out is one of those questions I ponder from time to time, taking comfort only in the words of Cardinal Sheen, when asked who goes in hell and who goes to heaven. Regarding Hell, he replied: “I don’t know. All I know is that there is no one in Hell who doesn’t belong there.”
February 28, 2008 at 8:55 pm
We can all ask why 25% of people raised Catholic leave the Church. We can always blame the influence of the self-destructing secular culture, but that has always been with us. Is it because the Catholic Church has often sold itself down the river by abandoning solid catechesis and not proclaiming boldly and with joy what the Truth is?
Sure, why would you want to stick with a wannabe Protestant church (kumbaya Catholic) when you can join the real thing?
February 29, 2008 at 10:55 pm
“Cardinal Sheen” … have I missed something?
Moot point when it becomes “Saint Fulton Sheen, archbishop.”