An Index Of Catholicism's Decline

[mortify]

[img]http://www.lanewaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/head-in-the-sand.JPG[/img]

[size="4"][b]An index of Catholicism's decline[/b][/size]

Taken from: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29948

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Posted: December 11, 2002
1:00 am Eastern


By Patrick J. Buchanan
© 2010 Creators Syndicate, Inc.





As the Watergate scandal of 1973-1974 diverted attention from the far greater tragedy unfolding in Southeast Asia, so, too, the scandal of predator-priests now afflicting the Catholic Church may be covering up a far greater calamity.

Thirty-seven years after the end of the only church council of the 20th century, the jury has come in with its verdict: Vatican II appears to have been an unrelieved disaster for Roman Catholicism.

Liars may figure, but figures do not lie. Kenneth C. Jones of St. Louis has pulled together a slim volume of statistics he has titled Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church Since Vatican II.

His findings make prophets of Catholic traditionalists who warned that Vatican II would prove a blunder of historic dimensions, and those same findings expose as foolish and naive those who believed a council could reconcile Catholicism and modernity. When Pope John XXIII threw open the windows of the church, all the poisonous vapors of modernity entered, along with the Devil himself.

Here are Jones' grim statistics of Catholicism's decline:


Priests. While the number of priests in the United States more than doubled to 58,000, between 1930 and 1965, since then that number has fallen to 45,000. By 2020, there will be only 31,000 priests left, and more than half of these priests will be over 70.

Ordinations. In 1965, 1,575 new priests were ordained in the United States. In 2002, the number was 450. In 1965, only 1 percent of U.S. parishes were without a priest. Today, there are 3,000 priestless parishes, 15 percent of all U.S. parishes.

Seminarians. Between 1965 and 2002, the number of seminarians dropped from 49,000 to 4,700, a decline of over 90 percent. Two-thirds of the 600 seminaries that were operating in 1965 have now closed.

Sisters. In 1965, there were 180,000 Catholic nuns. By 2002, that had fallen to 75,000 and the average age of a Catholic nun is today 68. In 1965, there were 104,000 teaching nuns. Today, there are 8,200, a decline of 94 percent since the end of Vatican II.

Religious Orders. For religious orders in America, the end is in sight. In 1965, 3,559 young men were studying to become Jesuit priests. In 2000, the figure was 389. With the Christian Brothers, the situation is even more dire. Their number has shrunk by two-thirds, with the number of seminarians falling 99 percent. In 1965, there were 912 seminarians in the Christian Brothers. In 2000, there were only seven. The number of young men studying to become Franciscan and Redemptorist priests fell from 3,379 in 1965 to 84 in 2000.

Catholic schools. Almost half of all Catholic high schools in the United States have closed since 1965. The student population has fallen from 700,000 to 386,000. Parochial schools suffered an even greater decline. Some 4,000 have disappeared, and the number of pupils attending has fallen below 2 million – from 4.5 million.
Though the number of U.S. Catholics has risen by 20 million since 1965, Jones' statistics show that the power of Catholic belief and devotion to the Faith are not nearly what they were.


Catholic Marriage. Catholic marriages have fallen in number by one-third since 1965, while the annual number of annulments has soared from 338 in 1968 to 50,000 in 2002.

Attendance at Mass. A 1958 Gallup Poll reported that three in four Catholics attended church on Sundays. A recent study by the University of Notre Dame found that only one in four now attend.

Only 10 percent of lay religious teachers now accept church teaching on contraception. Fifty-three percent believe a Catholic can have an abortion and remain a good Catholic. Sixty-five percent believe that Catholics may divorce and remarry. Seventy-seven percent believe one can be a good Catholic without going to mass on Sundays. By one New York Times poll, 70 percent of all Catholics in the age group 18 to 44 believe the Eucharist is merely a "symbolic reminder" of Jesus.
At the opening of Vatican II, reformers were all the rage. They were going to lead us out of our Catholic ghettos by altering the liturgy, rewriting the Bible and missals, abandoning the old traditions, making us more ecumenical, and engaging the world. And their legacy?

Four decades of devastation wrought upon the church, and the final disgrace of a hierarchy that lacked the moral courage of the Boy Scouts to keep the perverts out of the seminaries, and throw them out of the rectories and schools of Holy Mother Church.

Through the papacy of Pius XII, the church resisted the clamor to accommodate itself to the world and remained a moral beacon to mankind. Since Vatican II, the church has sought to meet the world halfway.

Jones' statistics tell us the price of appeasement.

Edited March 5, 2010 by mortify

[Apotheoun]

How glum.

[Apotheoun]

As Jesus said: "The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, every man to his home, and will leave me alone; yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. [i]I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world[/i]."

[Sternhauser]

I'm tired of the "blame everything on the Vatican II era" nonsense. If everything in the Church was really as rock-solid and peachy in the 1940s and 1950s as people pretend it was, the evils that resulted "since Vatican II" would never have transpired. Fungus does not grow in the glory of the bright sun. Dark forests do not spring up from solid bedrock.

~Sternhauser

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='Sternhauser' date='05 March 2010 - 01:00 AM' timestamp='1267765241' post='2066930']
I'm tired of the "blame everything on the Vatican II era" nonsense. If everything in the Church was really as rock-solid and peachy in the 1940s and 1950s as people pretend it was, the evils that resulted "since Vatican II" would never have transpired. Fungus does not grow in the glory of the bright sun. Dark forests do not spring up from solid bedrock.

~Sternhauser
[/quote]
Agreed. The rot started in the early 1900s, long before Vatican II, which was a response, not a cause.

[Veridicus]

Sad stats. It's frustrating to see so many 50%+ drops in so many different categories...I bet the numerical statistics would be even more depressing if they were adjusted for population growth.

Catholic history will not likely speak favorably upon this period in its history, regardless of who gets the blame for the problems.

[KeenanParkerII]

[quote]Catholic history will not likely speak favorably upon this period in its history, regardless of who gets the blame for the problems. [/quote]

True this + 5.

[BarbTherese]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' date='05 March 2010 - 03:38 PM' timestamp='1267765692' post='2066937']
Agreed. The rot started in the early 1900s, long before Vatican II, which was a response, not a cause.
[/quote]

Things were not rosy and wonderful pre V2 for sure. Nor are they rosy and wonderful now and in some areas V2 has been misinterpreted, for one, but I think personally that probably Pope Benedict XVI will go a long way to addressing these issues. Most all, if not all, Councils have been followed by a period of unrest as pros and cons are debated and discerned and then unity renewed. While the abuse scandals have undoubtedly brought much heartbreak to the Church, thank Goodness they have come and are coming into the light and what gave rise to them will be addressed for the future. Prayer too for victims of abuse and those who abused. Prayer too for our many good, devoted, faithful and generous priests.

Well quoted, Apotheoun :

[quote]As Jesus said: "The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, every man to his home, and will leave me alone; yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. [b]I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world[/b]."[/quote]


We never were promised a total rose garden here, rather our glory, and our Peace and Joy, is The Cross, which can indeed be a stumbling block to many. No point in history, certainly not our own, is a time for prophesying doom and gloom in The Church. I read part of the following quotation in another thread http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index.php?showtopic=103188&st=0&p=2064422&hl=third%20secret&fromsearch=1&#entry2064422. Link to the Opening Address http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pope0261i.htm

[quote][b]Pope John XXIII's opening address to the Second Vatican Council in in October 1962[/b]:

[b]Pessimistic Voices [/b]

In the daily exercise of Our pastoral office, it sometimes happens that We hear certain opinions which disturb Us—opinions expressed by people who, though fired with a commendable zeal for religion, are lacking in sufficient prudence and judgment in their evaluation of events. They can see nothing but calamity and disaster in the present state of the world. They say over and over that this modern age of ours, in comparison with past ages, is definitely deteriorating. One would think from their attitude that history, that great teacher of life, had taught them nothing. They seem to imagine that in the days of the earlier councils everything was as it should be so far as doctrine and morality and the Church's rightful liberty were concerned.

We feel that We must disagree with these prophets of doom, who are always forecasting worse disasters, as though the end of the world were at hand.

[b]A Basis For Optimism [/b]

Present indications are that the human family is on the threshold of a new era. We must recognize here the hand of God, who, as the years roll by, is ever directing men's efforts, whether they realize it or not, towards the fulfillment of the inscrutable designs of His providence, wisely arranging everything, even adverse human fortune, for the Church's good.
[/quote]

There is no need for prophesying doom and gloom - but it is a time to work as if all depended on work and pray as if all depending on prayer for it does.
[b]"Thou art Peter, The Rock, and on this Rock I will build My Church - and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it"[/b]

[MissyP89]

[quote name='Apotheoun' date='04 March 2010 - 11:55 PM' timestamp='1267764925' post='2066925']
As Jesus said: "The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, every man to his home, and will leave me alone; yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. [i]I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world[/i]."
[/quote]

OMG I was going to use that verse, and you stole it from me. Now I have nothing of worth to contribute. Thanks, Apo. Thanks a lot.

[Saint Therese]

Well, maybe quality is more important than quanity.

[Socrates]

I think this article should be balanced with the article by Dr. Mirus on Catholic Culture that was recently posted here. The Council itself cannot be blamed for everything that went wrong in the Church (convenient as it may be to do so), but the heterodox nonsense perpetuated "in the Spirit of Vatican II" was indeed a disaster for the Church.

Our attitude should not be to just stick our heads in the sand and say everything's rosy, but there's no point in wallowing in despair either. There's plenty of good things going in the Church, and a renewal of Catholic orthodoxy is underway, even if total numbers are small. There has been an increase in schools devoted to Catholic orthodoxy, orthodox parishes are growing, as are orthodox seminaries. These things tend to be ignored or dismissed by both the liberal media and gloom-and-despair conservatives. Of course, a lot of damage has already been done, and we're still dealing with its effects. I think the Church will emerge smaller but stronger and more united.

Serious orthodox Catholics have been awake to the problems in the Church for some time now. Some of them are doing something about fixing the problems, rather than just endlessly wailing about them, as Mr. Buchanan and other prophets of doom have taken to doing. No positive good comes out of despair, nor of endlessly raging against a council that closed over forty years ago.
I agree with Pat Buchanan on a lot of things, but lately he's become largely a voice of despair who sees no hope in anything.

Edited March 5, 2010 by Socrates

[Saint Therese]

And realistically, there's always been problems with the Church and within the Church, its just that now its more visible.

[CatherineM]

Sometimes a tree needs serious pruning to remain healthy.

[Apotheoun]

The Church is both divine and human, and because she is divine it follows that she possesses unfailing strength and newness of life, and yet since she is also human it follows that she is in constant need of reform among her members.

[mortify]

Imprudent decisions were made during and after the Council that have harmed the Church, this has to be frankly admitted, as difficult as it may be.