CV NEWS FEED // The Catholic Recording Society (CRS) has released new pastoral statistics that reveal two major trends among Catholics in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
Remarkable statistics from CRS’ Catholicism in the Numbers project show a decisive decline in religious vocation and consistent practice among Catholics, while a marked increase in outreach programs doing.
As Tim Kinnear, author of the Catholic Herald UK, wrote in a recent article explaining the study’s findings, the results suggest that “as Catholics’ participation in church life and missions waxes and wanes, experiences are placed in the context of national change.”
As Catholicvote previously reported, priestly vocations are in sharp decline in Ireland, with only 20 seminarians formed across the country. As of 2022, there were 2,116 priests serving the country’s 2,650 churches, dioceses and parishes, of which 189 were from outside the diocese or from abroad.
Mr Kinnear said: “The statistics become clearer when taken together.”
The number of ordinations has fallen significantly (about 139 in England and Wales in 1960, 32 secular ordinations in 2019), and the number of sisters in religious orders has also declined (about 11,428 in Ireland in 1991). , 4,887 people in 2020).
“Having said that, the service of the Permanent Deacons has grown from 475 in 2000 to approximately 752 Permanent Deacons in England and Wales by 2010,” he added. According to Kinnear, this growth will “shape the parish mission experience for many Catholics” in the future.
As the number of permanent deacons increases and the number of parish sisters decreases, Kinnear noted that the gender distribution within the mission team will be predominantly male-led.
The statistics also show that while more people identify as Catholic, fewer people practice Catholicism on a regular basis, leading to a decline in mass attendance. On the other hand, it reflects a more stable size of the Catholic population.
Mr Kinnear said that while changes in the church revealed a certain decline in many areas, the statistics revealed a number of counter-trends of “higher commitment and support” among Catholic student unions and other groups. He said there was.
Kinnear also pointed to statistics regarding online faith engagement and disparities among immigrant congregations.
In conclusion, he writes: “Changes could lead to smaller churches and fewer workers for the harvest. But if Christianity satisfies an abiding need to connect with the transcendent, the opposite trend will occur. right.”
To learn more, more people need to contribute their data to CRS projects, Kinnear said.