Statistics on Conversions to Roman Catholicism

[johnbugay]

Sorry for the double posting -- but in my initial post on this topic, I put a colon in the title, which affected the formatting. I've deleted that one, and all of that same information is here.

In another thread, Dudley provided a link to research that suggested that in the United States today, some 15 million "cradle Catholics" are now Protestant. That link is here:

Pew Forum: Faith in Flux: Religious Conversion Statistics and Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S.

What's not in that research (that I could see) are numbers of Protestants, and specifically Reformed Protestants, who convert to Catholicism.

Catholics make a big deal about this. In fact, there is a whole industry devoted to telling "stories," from Scott Hahn, EWTN the "Coming Home Network," Patrick Madrid's "Surprised" series, and on and on. James Swan, for example, writes here and here about the "stories" of conversions, and their inherent instability (vs. the Truth of Scripture as a guide).

Something that I see that is particularly insidious are efforts now, specifically to "reach out" to Reformed believers, for the specific purpose of bringing them home to Rome. This one, Called to Communion," is run by some PhD level individuals (and PhD candidates) who are all, from what they say, formerly Reformed.

I really think these guys need to be addressed, and one statistic that would be very useful in doing so would be simply to say, "you are five guys in the world, whereas the vast majority of "conversion stories" are going the other way. Does anyone know what that number is?

 

[buggy]

Back in my country, the RCs are gaining converts, slowly and stable. Some of them allow charismatic masses that draw in lots of youth... this, plus the rotten testimonies of the seeker-friendly megachurches turn a lot of non-Christians off...

I'm grieved when I hear some non-Christians tell me they may be interested in Catholicism, but will have nothing to do with the Protestant/Evangelical faith.

 

[johnbugay]

Buggy (LTL), I'm sorry to hear that. I know that evangelicalism has some problems, but Catholicism is definitely not a good answer.

 

[buggy]

The main reason why they (non-Christians) prefer Catholicism is because they don't like the exclusivist message of the Gospel (Christ = only way), and don't like to be evangelized to. Some are also very turned off by the Evangelical church's clear stance against homosexuality. Even mainline and RC churches here are also against it. And because Protestants here refuse to partake in ancestral worship - which most RCs tolerate in a modified version - this is a very slippery issue for 1st-generation converts - myself included.

There is a greater need for Reformed witness here that emphasizes more on one's SIN and utter inability to save themselves rather than the "sinner's prayer" thing.

 

[dudley]

In the US 22% RC's and only 3% Protestants have left and converted to the other faith

The follwing is the latest pew survey that I have on why Roman Catholics in the United States are increasingly becoming Protestants.I have also included the number of Protestants who have become Roman catholics, that is labeled #2.

1-Leaving Catholicism in The United States 30 million about 22%

While the ranks of the unaffiliated have grown the most due to changes in religious affiliation, the Catholic Church has lost the most members in the same process; this is the case even though Catholicism's retention rate of childhood members (68%) is far greater than the retention rate of the unaffiliated and is comparable with or better than the retention rates of other religious groups. Those who have left Catholicism outnumber those who have joined the Catholic Church by nearly a four-to-one margin. Overall, one-in-ten American adults (10.1%) have left the Catholic Church after having been raised Catholic, while only 2.6% of adults have become Catholic after having been raised something other than Catholic.
Former Catholics are about evenly divided between those who have become Protestant and those who are now unaffiliated with any religion, with fewer now adhering to other faiths. Among Catholics who have become Protestant,aproximately 15 million most now belong to evangelical denominations, with fewer associated with mainline Protestant denominations. However a significant number of ex roman catholics like myself eventually come to the Reformed Protestant faith. many l;ike me are now Presbyterians or Baptists.

Departures and the Life Cycle

Almost half of Roman Catholics who are now unaffiliated (48%) left Catholicism before reaching age 18, as did one-third who are now Protestant. Among both groups, an additional three-in-ten left the Catholic Church as young adults between ages 18 and 23. Only one-fifth who are now unaffiliated (21%) and one-third who are now Protestant (34%) departed after turning age 24. Among those who left the Catholic Church as minors, most say it was their own decision rather than their parents' decision.

Among people who were raised Catholic, both former Catholics and those who have remained Catholic report similar levels of childhood attendance at religious education classes and Catholic youth group participation. Additionally, one-quarter of lifelong Catholics say they attended Catholic high school, somewhat higher than among former Catholics who have become Protestant (16%) but roughly similar to former Catholics who have become unaffiliated (20%).

2-The same survey shows that those raised Protestant are still Protestant and only 3% have become Roman Catholics.

Eight-in-ten adults who were raised Protestant are still Protestant, and about two-thirds of this group (or 52% of all those raised Protestant) are still members of the same family of denominations (e.g. Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, etc.) in which they were raised. The other third (28% of all those raised Protestant) are now members of a new family of Protestant denominations. However, one-fifth of those raised Protestant have left Protestantism altogether; most of them are now unaffiliated (13%), with smaller numbers having become Catholic (3%) or members of other faiths (4%). This section of the report takes a closer look at the large group of people (15% of the overall population) who have changed faiths within Protestantism (e.g., those who were raised Presbyterian and are now Episcopalian, or those who were raised Methodist and are now Baptist).

source: Pew Forum: Faith in Flux: Religious Conversion Statistics and Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S.

In grace,

Dudley

 

[johnbugay]

2-The same survey shows that those raised Protestant are still Protestant and only 3% have become Roman Catholics.

Dudley, thank you for this helpful clarification.

 

[jambo]

I can never see the point of such statistics. A person is either a Christian or they are not. If they are then they will stay within their evangelical church. (By evangelical I mean a church endevouring to be as faithful to the scriptures as it can) If they are not Christians then it does not matter in the slightest whether they leave a Protestant church for a RC church, or a cult or no church at all. A lost person is lost regardless of what church he belongs to.

 

[johnbugay]

I can never see the point of such statistics. A person is either a Christian or they are not. If they are then they will stay within their evangelical church. (By evangelical I mean a church endevouring to be as faithful to the scriptures as it can) If they are not Christians then it does not matter in the slightest whether they leave a Protestant church for a RC church, or a cult or no church at all. A lost person is lost regardless of what church he belongs to.

The point is useful in certain apologetic discussions. It seems as if there are some Catholics for whom "conversion," or "coming home to Rome" is "another sign that Rome is the one true church." These statistics illustrate that such conversions to Rome are much more infrequent than they make them out to be -- that the tide continues to flow hard in the other direction. It's just another illustration that Roman boastfulness is of the same kind it's always been.

 

[JBaldwin]

I find this discussion interesting. An old friend of mine, an evangelical turned Anglican priest, has since the time of going our separate ways become a catholic priest and strong spokesman for the RCC. He was married and had children at the time of his conversion to catholicism and got special permission from the pope to become ordained as a priest. He has authored several books, some about his converstion to catholicism.

Dwight Longenecker - Catholic priest and author

Why is that these folks like to author books with unoriginal titles stolen from C.S. Lewis?
(Surprise by Truth vs. Surprised by Joy; Mere Christianity vs. More Christianity). Makes me sick.

 

[jambo]

I can never see the point of such statistics. A person is either a Christian or they are not. If they are then they will stay within their evangelical church. (By evangelical I mean a church endevouring to be as faithful to the scriptures as it can) If they are not Christians then it does not matter in the slightest whether they leave a Protestant church for a RC church, or a cult or no church at all. A lost person is lost regardless of what church he belongs to.

The point is useful in certain apologetic discussions. It seems as if there are some Catholics for whom "conversion," or "coming home to Rome" is "another sign that Rome is the one true church." These statistics illustrate that such conversions to Rome are much more infrequent than they make them out to be -- that the tide continues to flow hard in the other direction. It's just another illustration that Roman boastfulness is of the same kind it's always been.

When I said I didn't see the point of such statistics, I was not so much referring to the purpose and use of statistics but rather the fact that people are unnecessarily troubled by statistics which are meaningless.

Here are some statistics of sorts that thrill and excite me:-

-through the seed of Abraham all the families of earth shall be blessed
-before the throne will stand a great multitude which no man can number, people from every tribe and tongue.
-the seed which fell on the good soil produced a harvest 30, 60, 100 times what was sown.

The RC church may try to say it is growing (despite the vast numbers in RC countries that are leaving it, or rather abandoning it) and in Europe the RC chuirch looks at traditional Catholic countries, such as France, and sees them as a mission field.

How other groups are perceived to be growing is not the concern of the Christian. Rather his concern is about the growth of the kingdom.

People are either sheep or goats. It does not matter which herd of goats are growing the fastest or becoming the biggest. Its the flock of sheep that we are concened about. A sheep can never become a goat; but many goats do become sheep.

 

[johnbugay]

I find this discussion interesting. An old friend of mine, an evangelical turned Anglican priest, has since the time of going our separate ways become a catholic priest and strong spokesman for the RCC. He was married and had children at the time of his conversion to catholicism and got special permission from the pope to become ordained as a priest. He has authored several books, some about his converstion to catholicism.