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The birth control thing was kind of a joke. BUT I do come from an italian catholic family of 8 kids
also, for the Catholics, don forget about the the Hispanic population pouring into America every year. This alone should help keep the catholic numbers from falling.
Last edited by costello_musicman; 02-19-2011 at 10:43 AM..
Maybe it is generational. I know a lot of Catholic families with 5, 6, 7 kids and I know one woman who has 12 siblings all who grew up in the 70s and 80s, so they are in their 30s and 40s now and raising their own kids; a bit fewer, I might add.
However, a lot of Americas growing Catholic population are Mexicans and other Hispanics who are bringing their own family planning dynamic into the situation.
I noticed several "red" churches on the list posted as "no membership updates posted", including my denomination. Does this mean they didn't provide any information? If so, then I'm not sure this is really accurate/valid. They COULD have grown and failed to update their information (I could really see my denomination doing this, that's why I say that ).
Maybe it is generational. I know a lot of Catholic families with 5, 6, 7 kids and I know one woman who has 12 siblings all who grew up in the 70s and 80s, so they are in their 30s and 40s now and raising their own kids; a bit fewer, I might add.
My parents had six kids and obeyed church teaching on this matter. I think like 15% of Catholic couples do which is a minority but would likely add up to a couple million couples or something.
Actually I'm pretty sure they use the same method as thearda.com The Association of Religious Data Archives. The numbers are about the same. Their method kinda balances it out between denominations that count members differently because they count all adherents.
So I'd say the numbers are pretty comparable. A lot of Protestant denominations count inactive members on their rolls. My brother is still a member of the local Baptist church even though he only went one time in high school and decided to join for whatever reason. A lot of Catholic churches dont count people as members until they actually register with the parish. So they could be baptized in another parish or country but they dont count as a member of the parish that they go to now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Special_Guest
I noticed several "red" churches on the list posted as "no membership updates posted", including my denomination. Does this mean they didn't provide any information? If so, then I'm not sure this is really accurate/valid. They COULD have grown and failed to update their information (I could really see my denomination doing this, that's why I say that ).
I think the second bold answers the topic of the first. This reporting group apparently relies on reports from the churches. The LDS church also counts everyone who was ever a member. As for Catholic membership from parish to parish being a factor, this is supposedly a national census (or whatever), so that shouldn't matter.
Forgive me for going a lil off topic, but what do you think the chances are that the RCC will change their stance on the usage of contraception? I've always said that if I was a Christian, I'd be a Catholic or Methodist, and I agree with the RCC's positions on social justice and am enamered with the Catholic approach to spirituality; but I don't think I could convert to a religion that I disagree with on a core moral tenet.
Forgive me for going a lil off topic, but what do you think the chances are that the RCC will change their stance on the usage of contraception? I've always said that if I was a Christian, I'd be a Catholic or Methodist, and I agree with the RCC's positions on social justice and am enamered with the Catholic approach to spirituality; but I don't think I could convert to a religion that I disagree with on a core moral tenet.
Change is very slow in the Catholic Church but it does happen, who knows if that position will ever change, but it doesn't stop many Catholics from being personally against that and still being followers or active members.
There's alotta split opinion in the church, like how women can't be ordained, but still there are priests in this country and others training women and preaching alongside female priests anyway. There's also things the Pope and Vatican scientists (yeah that's not a joke lol) have said like evolution, the big bang theory and even belief in life on other planets doesn't necessarily go against the faith while other more conservative officials didn't exactly agree with that. The thing I've noticed when I studied other denominations is that Catholics are somewhat "free-er" in their beliefs, it's ok to disagree with this and this and that but it doesn't isolate or separate you from the faith so much like in some other groups. Just my observations though.
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