Faith in Numbers: Debating the Future of Catholic Parishes

Is the Catholic Church facing a demographic apocalypse or a traditional revival? This riveting conversation dives deep into the statistical realities reshaping Catholic parishes across America as the boomer generation begins to pass away.

Two passionate young Catholics debate whether data suggests an impending collapse of Novus Ordo parishes or if reports of Catholicism’s demise are greatly exaggerated. Ryan presents compelling statistics: parishes losing approximately 13 weekly Mass attendees annually to death, retention rates plummeting to 32% for those raised in the post-Vatican II liturgy, and traditional Latin Mass communities growing with 75% retention and fertility rates of 3.4 children per woman. Meanwhile, Hoosier argues for cautious optimism, pointing to stabilization in certain metrics and questioning whether liturgical form alone determines parish vitality.

Beyond the numbers, this discussion explores the profound connection between liturgical practice and faith transmission. When ritual – the foundation of religious identity – undergoes dramatic change, what happens to cultural memory and intergenerational faith? Both debaters, though sometimes disagreeing on trajectory, share a deep love for the Church and concern for its future.

The conversation weaves through fascinating territory: the experiential catechesis provided by reverent worship, the impact of Vatican II reforms beyond just the Mass, the surprising growth of traditional practices among younger Catholics, and what might constitute an authentic Catholic revival in modern America. Whether you’re interested in Catholic demographics, liturgical debates, or the broader question of how religious identity survives in secular times, this episode offers thoughtful perspectives from faithful Catholics trying to understand where their Church is headed.

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46件のコメント

  1. We should have a rule that only someone who has been a confirmed Catholic for several years is allowed to have a public platform speaking about the faith.

  2. I teach theology class at my parish catholic school. I Constantly have pushback from parents on teaching basic Catholic concepts. The secularism of these parents is amazing. Most do not attend Sunday Mass regularly. And most of the active younger Boomers are so liberal and think that pushing that will get more young people. Alphabet moral issues are a constant problem

  3. I don’t understand the sense of desperation that the opponents of TLM superiority have? Anthony made a great point, a new liturgy was pushed on everyone from the top down already. Let’s do it again but this time with a liturgy that isn’t directly related to severe damage to the Church but rather is the liturgy that formed the best saints.

  4. I admit that a lot changed for the worse after the council. But I really think the broader cultural tidal wave that came had a greater effect. Looking outside the Catholic Church to the mainline Protestant churchs, the destruction was even greater, the amount of denominational splits and breakdown completely eclipsed what happened inside the Catholic Church.

  5. 1:09:02 I hate how accurate Rob is about this lol 😂. I have family who have done EXACTLY what he said. Not everyone is bad, sometimes the liturgy can be more traditional but there’s still big issues in African Catholicism.

  6. Good points brought up, but hard to understand at times. Hoosier needs to switch to decaf, while Ryan's audio can sometimes be hard to hear.

  7. Hooser just sounds like someone who's read a lot but not experienced much within Catholicism, he also constantly interrupted, didn't let thoughts come to their full fruition etc.

    He sounds like a Catholic Inc guy.

    I also get tge fact that he's a noob and wants to feel like hes joining a "winning team"

  8. We’re having this conversation in isolation from the stats on global fertility rates… We’re headed for a global population collapse that’s going to absolutely demolish the economy of every single country, and our post-industrial way of life as we know it is going to drastically change. It doesn’t even matter if the collapse of the Church happens due to the death of the boomers, because the general population collapse is going to send EVERYBODY into dire financial straits. The current parish model simply won’t be sustainable for even the most fertile of communities. The Church will obviously survive, but our parish model isn’t going to look anything like it does now. You don’t even have to be doom and gloom about this as a Catholic, life is just going to be really hard for literally everyone besides the technophilic oligarchs

  9. I'm with hoosier. I think he handled himself very well — and made some valid points quite persuasively — considering that he was kind of being ganged up on.

  10. More than half of “converts” in rcia are there for marriage or a Catholic discount on tuition at the school. The second point applies to baptisms as well

  11. Wonderful exchange…Ryan was terrific. His perspective and insights were compelling. Unfortunately, Hoosiers' delivery and accent were distracting.

  12. Wow…Hoosier interrupts way too much. Ryan was a real gentleman. Wish one of you guys would have jumped in to let Ryan finish before Hoosier would interrupt and distract.

  13. As a boomer, I will be gone from the earth when Tradition is restored. True, the TLM is small, but who has the children? Demography is destiny. The sterile boomers will be replaced by fecund TLMers, who have at least four and usually more children. As the boomers die, the NO parishes will too. The TLM churches will start out with one or a few, and then grow exponentially as the children grow up. Bigger families also mean more priests. What sort of priests? Why, conservative traditional priests, of course. This will lead to traditional bishops and go up to the pope. This, of course is only my theory and Christ may return before this happens, or there could be a sudden worldwide persecution of Catholics not seen since the Roman empire. I, for one, am very hopeful for the future. After all, Christ promised that hell would not prevail.

  14. In my family at one point, 100 % of my parents were Catholic. Two of their five children were (40%) , then two out of their fourteen grandchildren were (14%);, then finally one out of their twenty-right great grandchildren were (4%) These numbers have now changed slightly, but not much.

  15. I'm not being funny but please look back at what Archbishop Lefebvre did but accurately from his biography and research it properly because if it wasn't for him all these diocesan parishes would not exist! But please look at why he did what he did. My dad is 89 and remembers the true Mass before Vatican 2. ( It didn't need to change apart from the so called antisemitism that didnt exist in the prayers at Easter) Not being funny but the Mass was perfected by God for 2000 yrs then destroyed by man in 65. Thank God for the saint Archbishop Lefebvre which he should be! Coz none of the diocesan parishes would exist now if they hadn't broken away from the sspx. Thanks be to God 🙏. The Archbishop will now be getting his reward.
    Novus ordo Mass was made by a free mason and it is not a sacrifice it's a meal and there are Jewish prayers in it . We are Catholic Christians which is how Christ wants it not lukewarm,non the fence, anything will do heretic's. God bless you and keep you but the proof is in the pudding tradition is thriving and the novus ordo dying out coz it's not what God taught or want's!!!!!!❤

  16. Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly, and I offer Thee the Body, Blood, Soul & Divinity of Jesus Christ really present in all the Tabernacles throughout the world, in reparation for all the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences whereby He is offended, and by the Infinite Merits of His Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners!

    Let us all pray this prayer often while there are more parishes with Tabernacles where Our Lord is present now, than in the future.

  17. One should always be careful about evangelising when one is simply not at all good at it and is not even a Catholic yet in other words lets crawl first before we starting running. Also on the African Catholics, a lot of these folk die for the Faith and we must not be so dismissive of that Rob. The reality is this a lot of the so called "Trad" crowd in Western societies would not have it in them to sacrifice themselves entirely for the love of God. When Catholics are oppressed we can also see the numbers attending Mass go up and be maintained. In the British controlled part of Ireland Catholics were encouraged to have children by priests in order to beat protestantism in the region. Once peace was signed off on I believe Mass attendance particularly in a city like Belfast started to wane. Also important to note that a priest was brutally attacked in Downpatrick here in Ireland. I predicted some time ago we would see a lot more of this type of behaviour happening to our clergy as entropy becomes more pronounced in the world. Anthony has great insight when it comes to Holy Mother Church I think he can read things much better than most theologians and commentators in the Catholic sphere but he's still a culattone.

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