| Over the years, in conversations with Catholics | | | | the very words of Consecration were changed; |
| and former Catholics, the question has been | | | | 1969: 63%, when the Novus Ordo Worship |
| asked of me, "Michael, why did you leave the | | | | Service was first announced; 1970: 60%, when |
| Catholic Church?"As a boy, I was taught the | | | | the Novus Ordo Worship Service was introduced; |
| party line that I belonged to "the one true | | | | 1971: 50%, after one year of exclusive Novus |
| Church." Years later, I was affiliated with another | | | | Ordo worship services; 1988: 48%; 1993: 25%; |
| denomination that referred to itself as being the | | | | 1995: 22%; 1999: 19%, after twenty years of |
| "one true church" and have since heard Mormons | | | | exclusive Novus Ordo worship services 2001: 17% |
| and Jehovah Witnesses refer to themselves | | | | (SOURCE: TRADITIO, Traditional Roman Catholic |
| likewise.I would wholeheartedly agree that the | | | | Internet Site, Other sources reflect that latest |
| Roman Catholic "Holy Mother" Church is the one | | | | statistic as being from 45% to 32% in America. |
| true DENOMINATION, but who can say the | | | | Catholics 36-54 are most likely to rarely or never |
| deviciveness of denominationalism is a good | | | | attend Mass. According to national catholic |
| thing?? Among the things God hates, all listed in | | | | reporter, 77% of Catholics beieve one can be a |
| Proverbs 6:16-19, one of those is in verse 19, "...a | | | | "good" Catholic without attending Mass every |
| man who stirs up dissension among brothers." So | | | | Sunday. Less than 23% described themselves as |
| many splinter groups all branching off - and | | | | "highly committed" to the Church in 1999, down 4 |
| INCLUDING - Catholicism do NOT display the | | | | points from 1987.In America alone, the number of |
| show of "Oneness" for which Jesus prayed.I'm | | | | priests has gone from 58,632 in 1965 to 42,528 in |
| sure most would agree that one cannot make a | | | | 2005. The number of nuns, from 179,954 in 1965 |
| good decision without good information. Even | | | | to 68,634 in 2005. The number of American |
| one's decision to follow Christ is based upon the | | | | graduate seminarians has gone from 8,325 in 1965 |
| hearing/reading, of the Scriptures - the gathering | | | | to 3,308 in 2005. Parishes without a priest in the |
| and processing of this information about Jesus | | | | U.S. went from 549 in 1965 up to 3,251 in 2005. |
| Christ, His teachings and what He claimed about | | | | (SOURCE: The Official catholic Directory, the |
| Himself. My purpose here is to reveal the | | | | Vatican's Annuarium Statisticum |
| information I've gathered regarding Catholicism | | | | Ecclesiae.)According to Michael Cieslak, Diocese of |
| that made me ask the questions that demanded | | | | Rockford, Illinois, "the Catholic Church is governed |
| a verdict. I don't believe in blind faith for I feel | | | | by its internal church regulations, the Code of |
| that, in the end, it is really nothing more than | | | | Canon law. This Code makes no references to |
| having faith in faith. I am a firm proponent that | | | | people needing to register in a parish to be |
| we must resist the tendancy of most religionists | | | | committed as Catholics. While this practice may |
| of checking one's brain at the door. My mission is | | | | make good sense from an administrative point of |
| not to create more ex-Catholics. In fact, based on | | | | views, this goes beyond any requirements of |
| what you're about to read, if you're going to | | | | Church Law. The Code simply says that a person |
| choose to be a Catholic, you had BETTER excel | | | | is considered a Catholic if he/she is baptized a |
| at the role. If that's where you're going, you had | | | | Catholic and does not formally repudiate his/her |
| BETTER be good at it. REAL good. You'll see | | | | faith."In that case, I'm still considered a Catholic. |
| why.The matter of "creating EX-Catholics" | | | | Where baptisms, weddings, first communions, |
| appears, statistically, to be taking care of itself. | | | | conversions and deaths are concerned, the |
| Although, according to the Synod of Bishops, | | | | Catholic Church keeps great records. Naturally, |
| Rome 2003, the world's Catholic population grew | | | | such record keeping techniques - which include |
| by 15 MILLION between 2002-03, the last year | | | | non-Latin Rites, Ukranian Catholics and Coptic |
| for which full statistics could be found, breaking | | | | Catholics, etc. - cannot help but pad the |
| the 1 BILLION mark. 1.2% of that growth took | | | | statistics.WHAT ROME TEACHES: The BasicsLike |
| place in the America's, treated as one continent | | | | most Christian denominations, Catholicism claims |
| Nearly half the world's Catholics live in the | | | | as its basis the beliefs and teachings of the early |
| Western hemisphere. There was no significant | | | | Church fathers. Catholics believe in the promise of |
| growth in Europe.According primarily to Gallup Polls | | | | God to send a Savior after the fall of man in the |
| in various years, Sunday Mass attendance among | | | | Garden of Eden and in His promise to Abraham |
| Catholics in the United States has sunk by 400% | | | | that all generations would be blessed through his |
| since Vatican II. When asked whether they had | | | | descendants. They believe that these promises |
| attended Mass within the past week, the following | | | | were fulfilled through the person of Jesus Christ, |
| percentage of Catholics answered 'Yes': 1958: | | | | in His miraculous virgin birth, in His miracles, |
| 74%; 1965: 71%, after the Mass was allowed to | | | | beginning at Cana, in the details of His crucifixion, |
| be said in "the vulgar tongues"; 1968: 65%, after | | | | and in His burial and glorious resurrection. |