How we are counted

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I have asked this similar question here before but did not get a concrete answer on it. My question is when they count Catholics how are they counting are you counted after baptism ,Confirmation? Or what if you where baptised something else and then confirmed Catholic. How does one know when they are counted????

-- Andrew m Tillcock (drewmeister7@earthlink.net), March 06, 2004

Answers

I believe they take a census totalling the records of each parish/diocese when they want a current total. Each practising Catholic person or family is asked to register with their parish. If you're not registered with your parish then you probably aren't being counted.

-- Ed (catholic4444@yahoo.ca), March 07, 2004.

Confirmatiion completes our baptism. Reception of First Eucharist makes you a full member of the Catholic Church, and so would give you the most accurate number of Catholics. That is the Sacrament that actually completes your initiation into the Church, not baptism or confirmation. So, you see it's not quite straightforward to be precise in answering your question. I

It's like a gradual journey of initiation into the Church. Each of these points are recorded in detail. Parishes complete forms annually giving the totals of each of the sacraments received, whether children or adult, and submit these to their diocese. These figures are, in turn, passed to Rome.

I guess you're still 'no further forward'!

God bless

-- Sara (sara_catholic_forum@yahoo.co.uk), March 07, 2004.


Sara, with all due respect, I beg to differ. What you’ve given us here is how one gets to qualify for the “count”. You haven’t accounted for ongoing changes in totals other than to explain how “new” Catholics get added into the mix.

What about those Catholics who die and thus, reduce the current number? What about those who leave the faith? What about those who come back to the faith after they have missed a census? The only way this total can be kept relatively current is to total figures provided from each Bishop's Conference who in turn obtain them from their respective dioceses, who in turn, obtain them from all parishes under their authority. At the end of the day, apart from assisting you in regular donations to the Church, those little envelopes you have to pick up at the beginning of each year go along way in assisting the Church to assess who is currently practising the Faith. I suspect parishes, dioceses, and conferences complete forms for more than just those who have received sacraments each year.

-- Ed (catholic4444@yahoo.ca), March 07, 2004.


Sara, with all due respect, I beg to differ. What you’ve given us here is how one gets to qualify for the “count”. You haven’t accounted for ongoing changes in totals other than to explain how “new” Catholics get added into the mix.

Ed,with all due respect, that's the question Andrew asked :-)

God bless

Sara

-- Sara (sara_catholic_forum@yahoo.co.uk), March 07, 2004.


Sara, you're absolutely right! Sorry for misreading his question. :)

-- Ed (Catholic4444@yahoo.ca), March 07, 2004.


No problem Ed.

Incidentally...you're doing a great job as moderator! There's a definite improvement in the tone of the forum.

God bless

Sara

-- Sara (sara_catholic_forum@yahoo.co.uk), March 07, 2004.


Thank you both that does clear up alot. Pax Christi

-- Andrew m Tillcock (drewmeister7@earthlink.net), March 07, 2004.

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