This issue does not contain the usual Newsnotes, so we thought to give you a recap of some very telling statistics regarding the modern Catholic Church as reported by conservative columnists, commentator, and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan in “An Index of Catholicism’s Decline” on www.townhall.com, Dec. 11, 2002. Drawing on the research of Kenneth C. Jones in Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church Since Vatican II, Mr. Buchanan paints a very grim picture of what passes as Catholicism in the United States. His conclusion?
“Vatican II appears to have been an unrelieved disaster for Roman Catholicism.
“When Pope John XXIII threw open the windows of the church, all the poisonous vapors of modernity entered, along with the devil himself.”
We agree, and invite Mr. Buchanan to go one step further with us by recognizing that this modern Catholic Church is not the true Church at all, but simply a new denomination.
Here is a quick summary of Jones’ findings regarding the Catholic Church in the United States, as outlined by Mr. Buchanan:
| 1965 | Current | |
|---|---|---|
| Priests | 58,000 (doubled from 1930-1965) | 45,000 (only 31,000 projected for 2020; more than half will be over 70) |
| New Ordinations | 1,575 | 450 |
| Parishes without priests | 1% | 15% |
| Seminarians | 49,000 | 4,700 (down by 90%) |
| Seminaries | 600 | 400 |
| Sisters | 180,000 | 75,000 (aver. age: 68) |
| Teaching Sisters | 104,000 | 8,200 (down by 94%) |
| Jesuit seminarians | 3,559 | 389 |
| Christians Brothers candidates | 912 | 7 |
| Franciscan and Redemptorist seminarians | 3,379 | 84 |
| Catholic high school population | 700,000 | 386,000 |
| Catholic elementary school population | 4.5 million | below 2 million |
| Annulments* | 338 | 50,000 |
| Attendance at Mass (in 1958) | 3 out of 4 | 1 out of 4 |
* The number of Catholic marriages has fallen by one-third since 1965, although the number of Catholics has risen by 20 million.
You may be tempted to think that these figures are possibly reprints. Sadly, they are not. The shocking figures tell the story....
Mr. Buchanan’s report includes some equally tragic percentages, as gleaned from polls or other research methods:
Catholics aged 18-44 who believe that the Eucharist is merely a “symbolic reminder” of Jesus - 70%
Lay religious teachers who believe:
• A Catholic can have an abortion and remain a good Catholic - 53%
•• A Catholic may divorce and remarry - 65%
•• One can be a good Catholic without attending Sunday Mass - 77%
Mr. Buchanan concludes: “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.”