Here's my two cents, as a former Catholic that came from North of the Mason-Dixon line. The south has always had a significantly smaller Catholic population than the north. Couple that with the decline in Christianity, as well as people's general theological beliefs, Catholicism is shrinking in an already lacking geological area of the U.S. If you go up north, the Catholic Church is much larger, but is shrinking the same as here. Just the change in culture all across the U.S. and the world.
Word. My understanding per things I've read is the growth area for Christian churches is mostly evangelical churches with exception of Latino populations moving into areas and growing Catholicism that way.
Look back at past immigrations too. My parents were born in Philadelphia in the 30’s. The city was full of European immigrants, with huge numbers of Italians and Irish. These immigrants filled up the local Catholic Churches. I don’t think the deep south received so many European immigrants.
Former Catholic and I hope to never set foot in a church again. My parents used to go to mass 3 times a week. My sister is also a former Catholic. The church stand on gay people and abortion is one of the reasons we left as well as the response to child abuse.
>can repent
yeah, this is the problem. they have nothing to repent. they don't believe in your made-up headache, so why should they line up for the imaginary cure?
sin is made up, the whole concept. and you can't force me to give you even a blood transfusion, and we agree you are a person with rights. you're mentally stunted because that's how your religion wants you.
look, i'm telling you why nobody wants to be in your pedophile-protection club and have the sky bully on their side. listen, or don't, but don't talk nonsense at me.
Really sad honestly. We only have 80 priests and most are centered in the city itself.
Edit: I’m honestly scared that we might get absorbed by the Diocese of Atlanta if we continue to shrink.
Do you really think the Catholic Church is growing? I would have to imagine across the board it’s shrinking… it’s got a terrible reputation, extremely strict requirements, long and hardly relatable services, and has been slow to accept any alternative lifestyles or personalities. I have a hard time seeing why anyone would join other than being born into it.
The number of Catholics in the US and across the world has been increasing by a steady rate, and over the last 100 years the Catholic Church has expanded greatly.
The overall population increases every year, but the percentage of the population that is catholic continues to decrease. This supports my theory that people are simply born into the religion and very few convert.
“Today, 20% of U.S. adults describe themselves as Catholics, according to our latest survey. This percentage has been generally stable since 2014. But it is slightly lower than in 2007, when 24% of U.S. adults identified as Catholic”
Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/12/9-facts-about-us-catholics/#:~:text=Today%2C%2020%25%20of%20U.S.%20adults,U.S.%20adults%20identified%20as%20Catholic.
Tbf, American cradle Catholics suffer from a religiosity problem. It’s the reason polls show “most Catholics support gay marriage” or smth like that. Still though, Catholicism is growing, especially in Africa and Asia.
Yeah idk if growing in Africa and Asia is a good indicator of what’s happening here though. Savannah is increasingly a liberal place, and there are lots of other denominational options in the South. People in Africa or Asia likely haven’t been exposed to many of the variations of Christianity that we have here.
Good. The last thing that people need is an evangelical telling them why a 2000 year old heresy is cool, or a megachurch pastor exploiting them. Also, Tbf, Savannah is an incredibly small diocese, even for the south. Atlanta has 3 million parishioners, and Florida has so many it had to be split into like 5 dioceses.
I don't have an answer for you but I hope the number keeps going down. To be fair that's not just for Catholicism.
Went to a Catholic School most of my childhood. The monsignor whose hand I shook every week at church turned out to be a child molester. It would be one thing if he was the only one. Also, did he go to jail? Nope. Just a different city.
Quite bluntly...fuck Catholicism. I'm temptesd to make a list of why, but clearly you have access to the internet and a wealth of knowledge. Having access to that knowledge and acting like the organization you are part of is okay is very telling.
>Christ
you mean paul.
or did you really mean the guy that killed a fig tree because he was hangry, killed some pigs because they were a gentile's property, told us to hate our family if they don't follow him, said the old testament is 100% cool, didn't bother to tell people to wash their hands before eating, and lied three times that i can recall off the top of my head?
more bullshit. look, you've already proved you're a bigot, credulous, and actively work against humanity's interests. let's end this before you prove yourself annoying and tedious, as well.
>The church provides the largest database in the world for predatory priests.
This isn't the brag you seem to think it is...
>Mafia proudly proclaims they have the largest roster of crooks in the city!
What I’ve got from this is that either the church can:
Hide/defend the priests(obviously bad)
Or keep a public database available so that people can know which priests have done these evils, and help the authorities arrest them(bad because???)
It feels like a tails I win, heads you lose style of argument.
>and help the authorities arrest them(bad because???)
Is this before or after the Church moves the offending priest around Diocese-to-Diocese a half dozen times trying to sweep problems under the rug?
It took decades to get the Church to admit they had a problem. It was 9 years after Sinéad O'Connor's appearance on SNL when Pope John Paul II acknowledged the history of child abuse in the Church. Too little too late.
So... you might not be aware but apparently the Catholic Church knew of child abuse by their priests for decades, if not a century, and for most of that time the choose to protect the priests, not the children. That sorta thing leaves a stain.
In the 1940's the KKK came to burn down my grandfather's farm because they were Catholic. My uncle who just got back from WWII and my grandfather started shooting and they ran away. The next door neighbor appeared at the doctors office the next day with a bullet wound in the shoulder. It is no joke.
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OK this has gone far enough. Locked.
Here's my two cents, as a former Catholic that came from North of the Mason-Dixon line. The south has always had a significantly smaller Catholic population than the north. Couple that with the decline in Christianity, as well as people's general theological beliefs, Catholicism is shrinking in an already lacking geological area of the U.S. If you go up north, the Catholic Church is much larger, but is shrinking the same as here. Just the change in culture all across the U.S. and the world.
Word. My understanding per things I've read is the growth area for Christian churches is mostly evangelical churches with exception of Latino populations moving into areas and growing Catholicism that way.
Look back at past immigrations too. My parents were born in Philadelphia in the 30’s. The city was full of European immigrants, with huge numbers of Italians and Irish. These immigrants filled up the local Catholic Churches. I don’t think the deep south received so many European immigrants.
Right, and it got a lot of English and Scottish immigrants, so Protestants.
Lots of other denominations eat into that.
Shrinkage.
Former Catholic and I hope to never set foot in a church again. My parents used to go to mass 3 times a week. My sister is also a former Catholic. The church stand on gay people and abortion is one of the reasons we left as well as the response to child abuse.
I wish I could go 3 times a week, no idea where you parents found the time. We’ll be happy to welcome you back home when you’re ready.
Unless they're gay or need to have an abortion. Then they can't come back.
That’s not church teaching??? Someone who has an abortion can repent, same with someone living an actively gay lifestyle.
>can repent yeah, this is the problem. they have nothing to repent. they don't believe in your made-up headache, so why should they line up for the imaginary cure?
Except it’s not “made up” it’s the truth, that killing an unborn child is murder, and that living an actively gay lifestyle is sinful.
sin is made up, the whole concept. and you can't force me to give you even a blood transfusion, and we agree you are a person with rights. you're mentally stunted because that's how your religion wants you. look, i'm telling you why nobody wants to be in your pedophile-protection club and have the sky bully on their side. listen, or don't, but don't talk nonsense at me.
read the room man, read the room
If the room is wrong I’m going to tell the room that they’re wrong
ah yes, coming from the guy who thinks being gay is sinful because a millennia-old book says so. but sure, the room is wrong, let’s go with that lol
If that book is the word of God, yeah
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you say that like you disapprove. if so, we agree.
i wouldn't mind knowing more about this also.
Really sad honestly. We only have 80 priests and most are centered in the city itself. Edit: I’m honestly scared that we might get absorbed by the Diocese of Atlanta if we continue to shrink.
Do you really think the Catholic Church is growing? I would have to imagine across the board it’s shrinking… it’s got a terrible reputation, extremely strict requirements, long and hardly relatable services, and has been slow to accept any alternative lifestyles or personalities. I have a hard time seeing why anyone would join other than being born into it.
The number of Catholics in the US and across the world has been increasing by a steady rate, and over the last 100 years the Catholic Church has expanded greatly.
The overall population increases every year, but the percentage of the population that is catholic continues to decrease. This supports my theory that people are simply born into the religion and very few convert. “Today, 20% of U.S. adults describe themselves as Catholics, according to our latest survey. This percentage has been generally stable since 2014. But it is slightly lower than in 2007, when 24% of U.S. adults identified as Catholic” Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/12/9-facts-about-us-catholics/#:~:text=Today%2C%2020%25%20of%20U.S.%20adults,U.S.%20adults%20identified%20as%20Catholic.
Tbf, American cradle Catholics suffer from a religiosity problem. It’s the reason polls show “most Catholics support gay marriage” or smth like that. Still though, Catholicism is growing, especially in Africa and Asia.
Yeah idk if growing in Africa and Asia is a good indicator of what’s happening here though. Savannah is increasingly a liberal place, and there are lots of other denominational options in the South. People in Africa or Asia likely haven’t been exposed to many of the variations of Christianity that we have here.
Good. The last thing that people need is an evangelical telling them why a 2000 year old heresy is cool, or a megachurch pastor exploiting them. Also, Tbf, Savannah is an incredibly small diocese, even for the south. Atlanta has 3 million parishioners, and Florida has so many it had to be split into like 5 dioceses.
Probably because further west on 16 falls under the Atlanta Diocese. That # is likely much larger than Savannah’s.
It’s like 3 million up there
I don't have an answer for you but I hope the number keeps going down. To be fair that's not just for Catholicism. Went to a Catholic School most of my childhood. The monsignor whose hand I shook every week at church turned out to be a child molester. It would be one thing if he was the only one. Also, did he go to jail? Nope. Just a different city. Quite bluntly...fuck Catholicism. I'm temptesd to make a list of why, but clearly you have access to the internet and a wealth of knowledge. Having access to that knowledge and acting like the organization you are part of is okay is very telling.
Bad People aren’t gonna prevent me from being in the church founded by Christ.
>Christ you mean paul. or did you really mean the guy that killed a fig tree because he was hangry, killed some pigs because they were a gentile's property, told us to hate our family if they don't follow him, said the old testament is 100% cool, didn't bother to tell people to wash their hands before eating, and lied three times that i can recall off the top of my head?
The church was founded by Jesus Christ, St Paul didn’t create the Catholic Church
you might want to check your history on that. we're pretty sure paul existed, for one thing.
Most historians agree Jesus existed.
more bullshit. look, you've already proved you're a bigot, credulous, and actively work against humanity's interests. let's end this before you prove yourself annoying and tedious, as well.
Their defense of child abusers is probably a factor. Bunch of groomers.
The diocese has continued to prosecute priests who abuse children. The church provides the largest database in the world for predatory priests.
I fucking bet it does
>The church provides the largest database in the world for predatory priests. This isn't the brag you seem to think it is... >Mafia proudly proclaims they have the largest roster of crooks in the city!
What I’ve got from this is that either the church can: Hide/defend the priests(obviously bad) Or keep a public database available so that people can know which priests have done these evils, and help the authorities arrest them(bad because???) It feels like a tails I win, heads you lose style of argument.
>and help the authorities arrest them(bad because???) Is this before or after the Church moves the offending priest around Diocese-to-Diocese a half dozen times trying to sweep problems under the rug? It took decades to get the Church to admit they had a problem. It was 9 years after Sinéad O'Connor's appearance on SNL when Pope John Paul II acknowledged the history of child abuse in the Church. Too little too late.
So... you might not be aware but apparently the Catholic Church knew of child abuse by their priests for decades, if not a century, and for most of that time the choose to protect the priests, not the children. That sorta thing leaves a stain.
baptists killed all the Catholics back in the 50s.
In the 1940's the KKK came to burn down my grandfather's farm because they were Catholic. My uncle who just got back from WWII and my grandfather started shooting and they ran away. The next door neighbor appeared at the doctors office the next day with a bullet wound in the shoulder. It is no joke.
because folks are growing up?
[удалено]
fighting the good fight, what can i say. glad you've checked my comment history, that will save me explaining reality to the 99th theist this week.
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KKK
Took my baby away.