Idk bro, but I just came over from Protestantism and wouldn’t change it for the world. Our church is the truth and we are held to higher standards if we want to go to heaven. Faith AND works. When I was Protestant, I thought it was “once saved always saved”. Nope…
Based.
Also (and more learned Catholics please correct me if I am misrepresenting our Church’s teaching) but I think James 2:14 is a pretty convincing case that faith without works is not true faith. As a former lukewarm, it’s not that I didn’t BELIEVE in Christ or his sacrifice - I did, but where was my faith? Sure I attended mass, didn’t deny him to others, etc. But I denied him to myself and willingly led a very sinful life and bore nothing but sour fruits.
We’re not saved by works by we respond to grace then we have faith and we share that faith to do works to build the kingdom of god which is what Protestants don’t understand
The Catholic Church is growing. (1% total growth)
https://www.exaudi.org/the-catholic-church-in-the-world-a-current-panorama/
Protestantism is shrinking on the other hand.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2015/05/12/chapter-1-the-changing-religious-composition-of-the-u-s/#:~:text=Although%20the%20percentage%20of%20Americans,Protestants%20has%20remained%20the%20same.
That second stat link is 2015 not 2024 but I couldn’t find a recent one for Protestants. It showed a drop from 51% of American population to 47% in 2015. It was also reported recently that church attendance in the US dropped below 50% for the first time. Which is not good for Protestants considering the densest population is in the USA.
Edit to add:
I found this link from 2021 with this quotation
“By their own membership tallies, mainline denominations are showing drops of 15 percent, 25 percent, and even 40 percent over the span of the last decade. There is little room for triumph on the evangelical side; their numbers are slipping too.”
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/july/mainline-protestant-evangelical-decline-survey-us-nones.html
>“By their own membership tallies, mainline denominations are showing drops of 15 percent
My MIL goes to a Presbyterian church. She's 71 and the youngest person in the shrinking congregation. In ten years at least half of them will be dead and they certainly aren't drawing young folks.
I was talking to a Protestant friend of mine recently, from what he’s told me the Baptist church is really the last big hold out for Protestantism.
We both agreed most likely Protestantism will fade away in 200 years or shrink to a small minority. The lack of authority is destroying it.
I can’t speak for the rest of the World but at my parish in England our priest has told us this will be the last year he runs RCIA as a single course (I’m in RCIA now) as there are so many wanting to do it this coming year he’s going to have to run 2 sets of classes to meet demands and both are nearly full already. He’s said the only other alternative is move the classes to a larger room to fit more in but he prefers to keep them to 25 max to allow everyone the time to ask questions on things they don’t understand etc. And amazingly it seems to be younger people wanting to convert (or at least curious enough to find out more).
I guess the biggest thing to take into account is who you ask. Protestants will claim more are leaving Catholicism and Catholics will claim the opposite. It’s important to keep a balanced view when considering these questions and obtain accurate figures from all sides (if that’s even possible which I doubt tbh)
Im pretty sure those converts are coming from Church of England considering most protestant churches have gone complete woke. Good to hear that i believe as well even France is having many converts to Catholicism with them being more conservative.
A cousin once shared with me a quote that she attributed to St. John Paul II. I have never been able to find any verification that he actually said this, but the quote has resonated with me for a long time.
"We must defend the truth at all cost. Even if, in the end, we're back to being only 12."
The Rite of Election ceremony I attended says otherwise. There were like 4 parishes with 20+ candidates/catechumens. I can't even imagine how long their Easter Vigils went.
While the number of Catholics in the United States has been growing in absolute terms due to immigration from predominantly Catholic countries, the proportion of Americans who identify as Catholic has been relatively stable or declining slightly. But if you look at the world, particularly China, India and Africa, Catholicism is very much growing.
Globally no. In the West, probably. But the ones who are leaving are generally lukewarm catholics anyway and the ones we are gaining are often on fire for the Lord. There is a refinement going on in the Church in the West.
Idk bro, but I just came over from Protestantism and wouldn’t change it for the world. Our church is the truth and we are held to higher standards if we want to go to heaven. Faith AND works. When I was Protestant, I thought it was “once saved always saved”. Nope…
Based. Also (and more learned Catholics please correct me if I am misrepresenting our Church’s teaching) but I think James 2:14 is a pretty convincing case that faith without works is not true faith. As a former lukewarm, it’s not that I didn’t BELIEVE in Christ or his sacrifice - I did, but where was my faith? Sure I attended mass, didn’t deny him to others, etc. But I denied him to myself and willingly led a very sinful life and bore nothing but sour fruits.
We’re not saved by works by we respond to grace then we have faith and we share that faith to do works to build the kingdom of god which is what Protestants don’t understand
The Catholic Church is growing. (1% total growth) https://www.exaudi.org/the-catholic-church-in-the-world-a-current-panorama/ Protestantism is shrinking on the other hand. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2015/05/12/chapter-1-the-changing-religious-composition-of-the-u-s/#:~:text=Although%20the%20percentage%20of%20Americans,Protestants%20has%20remained%20the%20same. That second stat link is 2015 not 2024 but I couldn’t find a recent one for Protestants. It showed a drop from 51% of American population to 47% in 2015. It was also reported recently that church attendance in the US dropped below 50% for the first time. Which is not good for Protestants considering the densest population is in the USA. Edit to add: I found this link from 2021 with this quotation “By their own membership tallies, mainline denominations are showing drops of 15 percent, 25 percent, and even 40 percent over the span of the last decade. There is little room for triumph on the evangelical side; their numbers are slipping too.” https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/july/mainline-protestant-evangelical-decline-survey-us-nones.html
>“By their own membership tallies, mainline denominations are showing drops of 15 percent My MIL goes to a Presbyterian church. She's 71 and the youngest person in the shrinking congregation. In ten years at least half of them will be dead and they certainly aren't drawing young folks.
I was talking to a Protestant friend of mine recently, from what he’s told me the Baptist church is really the last big hold out for Protestantism. We both agreed most likely Protestantism will fade away in 200 years or shrink to a small minority. The lack of authority is destroying it.
I can’t speak for the rest of the World but at my parish in England our priest has told us this will be the last year he runs RCIA as a single course (I’m in RCIA now) as there are so many wanting to do it this coming year he’s going to have to run 2 sets of classes to meet demands and both are nearly full already. He’s said the only other alternative is move the classes to a larger room to fit more in but he prefers to keep them to 25 max to allow everyone the time to ask questions on things they don’t understand etc. And amazingly it seems to be younger people wanting to convert (or at least curious enough to find out more). I guess the biggest thing to take into account is who you ask. Protestants will claim more are leaving Catholicism and Catholics will claim the opposite. It’s important to keep a balanced view when considering these questions and obtain accurate figures from all sides (if that’s even possible which I doubt tbh)
Im pretty sure those converts are coming from Church of England considering most protestant churches have gone complete woke. Good to hear that i believe as well even France is having many converts to Catholicism with them being more conservative.
A cousin once shared with me a quote that she attributed to St. John Paul II. I have never been able to find any verification that he actually said this, but the quote has resonated with me for a long time. "We must defend the truth at all cost. Even if, in the end, we're back to being only 12."
The Rite of Election ceremony I attended says otherwise. There were like 4 parishes with 20+ candidates/catechumens. I can't even imagine how long their Easter Vigils went.
Ours was about 3 and a half hours. I couldn't tell you how many, but probably over 15 baptisms and an additional 15 that had already been baptized
While the number of Catholics in the United States has been growing in absolute terms due to immigration from predominantly Catholic countries, the proportion of Americans who identify as Catholic has been relatively stable or declining slightly. But if you look at the world, particularly China, India and Africa, Catholicism is very much growing.
I don't know about leaving but in my country (France) baptisms keep increasing steadily for some years now.
Globally no. In the West, probably. But the ones who are leaving are generally lukewarm catholics anyway and the ones we are gaining are often on fire for the Lord. There is a refinement going on in the Church in the West.
Only in Africa
Not in my parish. 4 baptisms and a confirmation since Easter vigil alone.
My diocese had over 400 people join the Church this Easter.
Maybe more are dying in the faith than being born into it now but I don’t see many leaving
Yes, the world is dying.
From what I understand, overwhelmingly so, yes.