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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5353 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Thu Mar 1st, 2007 10:22 pm |
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Crisis Magazine has issued a report that ranks the dioceses in America by the change in the number of priests, the number of ordinations, and the number of adult receptions into the Church, and compares the change in each category from 1995 to 2005. There are some surprises.
According to the report, which can be read here, some of the largest dioceses in America rank near the bottom, while the top-ranked dioceses tend to be newer and smaller.
According to the list, the top 11 dioceses in America are:
- Knoxville, TN
- Savannah, GA
- Kalamazoo, MI
- Alexandria, LA
- Pensacola-Tallahasee, FL
- Santa Fe, NM
- Birmingham, AL
- Wheeling-Charleston, WV (tie for 8)
- Anchorage, AK (tie for 8)
- Biloxi, MS (tie for 10)
- Lansing, MI (tie for 10)
The bottom 10 are:
- Hartford, CT
- Rockville Centre, NY
- Rochester, NY
- Metuchen, NJ
- Albany, NY
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Madison, WI
- Allentown, PA
- El Paso, TX
- Camden, NJ
The report notes that 9 of the top 11 dioceses are in the South and West, while 9 of the bottom 10 are in the North and East. One of the major factors for growth in a diocese, according to the report, is the bishop's refusal to accept decline.
The 16-page report is very interesting, and includes such factors as the age of the infrastructure in the New England states, the sexual abuse scandals, and the age of the diocese. It ranks all of the 176 American dioceses.
On a personal note, the Diocese of Alexandria, LA, ranks near the top of the list, while my own diocese, Houma-Thibodaux, LA, shows a large decline. However, in 2004, the bishop of Alexandria, Sam Jacobs, became the bishop of Houma-Thibodaux. No doubt our diocese will show a tremendous improvement in all three categories on the next list.
Another factor that will affect the next report is Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans will show a great decline in the Catholic population, while other dioceses will have a growth spurt due to the diaspora from the region due to the hurricane. Today is the 18-month anniversary of the storm, and tens of thousands have still not been able to return home. Many who have returned lack jobs and medical care, and the suicide rate has tripled even with the reduced population.
New Orleans is fully back in business, but there is still a shortage of customers, so the businesses are starting to fail in large numbers. I believe those that can hang on until next year will see phenomenal growth in the region, but the question is how many of them can survive another year?
As far as the Church in our region is concerned, the next year will tell the tale.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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David W. Emery
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Brownsville, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 2104 |
| First Name: | David | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
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Posted: Thu Mar 1st, 2007 11:28 pm |
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As interesting as this statistical analysis is, it seems to have a large number of flaws. For instance, my own diocese, Brownsville, Texas, is listed as having zero ordinations to the priesthood in 2005, and the truth is that the figure hovers close to zero over all of the past two decades. The reason for its over 60 percent increase in the number of active priests since 1995 is not mentioned. As a matter of fact, that increase was almost entirely due to a goodly number of priests, somewhere around 15 of them, brought in from Nigeria on a lending basis.
On a bright note, the diocese established its own seminary about nine years ago and has managed to attract several candidates for the priesthood. But again, they are almost entirely from Mexico. Two of these seminarians were ordained in 2006, and two more should be ordained next year. This would leave one candidate still in the seminary. I have not heard of any new prospects.
So why does Brownsville rank among the top dioceses in the relative number of converts? Lay activism plays a large role. Also, the diocese has a significant social outreach, providing a helping hand to poor families, migrants and immigrants whenever the public system fails them. My own parish is financially strapped, and one big reason is that it participates heavily in aid to the hidden poor and the working poor, so many of whom live within the parish boundaries. This outreach brings the grateful unchurched to the realization that God really does care.
David
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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5353 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Fri Mar 2nd, 2007 12:13 am |
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David W. Emery wrote: As interesting as this statistical analysis is, it seems to have a large number of flaws.
There are a number of flaws. For example, it cites only a single year's ordinations, and does not factor in the number of men in formation. It cites the increase in the number of priests, but does not factor in how many have come from other countries and how many are native born. (My diocese has 13 seminarians, but five of them have come from other countries. We also have 20 more priests than in 2005, but all but one of them are here from elsewhere.) It counts the number of new adult members, but not the number that no longer attend mass. (Mass attendance wasn't figured at all.) It counts the number of adult converts as a percentage of the Catholic population, but not as a percentage of the overall population. My diocese is overwhelmingly Catholic, and so we have a lot of reverts and relatively few true converts.
Still, I thought the report was interesting for what it does show, that growth is greatest in smaller dioceses in the South and West, and the decline is greatest in the Northeast. Liberal bishops tend to have the greatest decline, while conservative bishops tend to have the greatest growth. And the section on the emphasis of the diocesean web site I found extremely interesting. Many web sites have little information on faith and doctrine, and lots of info on how much money they need.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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JillD
Member
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Visalia, California USA |
| Posts: | 786 |
| First Name: | Jill | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | heathen, EvFree, Messianic, LC-MS, Catholic 2007 |
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Posted: Fri Mar 2nd, 2007 12:34 am |
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| Wow, the BEST ratio of adherents to priests was over 700! And the worst was nearly 20,000 to 1. The Lutheran church I'm leaving has about 20 people to 1 vicar. We need to pray for more priests!
____________________
"I praise you, for I am wondrously made. Wonderful are our works! My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret." Ps 139
"Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from violent men." Ps 140
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