the number of Wisconsinites who identify themselves as Catholics dropped from 39% to 29% of the population between 1990 and 2008
That according to the American Religious Identification Survey 2008, reported by Annysa Johnson in Sunday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The drop would extrapolate to a decline to 0% in 52 years, unless there's hope in these percentages being
despite a 1% increase nationwide over that period and a similar uptick in Wisconsin since 2001.
My early December conversation with a St. Al's insider, see Bubble and panic, included being told that anecdotal evidence indicated that other denominations had the same kinds of declines the Catholic Church did. As I said, such assertions at my parish are usually followed by the contrary facts popping up.
Wisconsin residents identifying themselves as other Christian faiths fell from 52% to 47%
Half the percentage of the Catholic decline, and even less proportionately.
Milwaukee Archdiocese spokeswoman Julie Wolf said the Catholic decline in the study doesn't jibe with the archdiocese's own membership numbers, which show an increase over that time, but added that the church's numbers aren't scientific.
"Not scientific" here meaning an error margin larger than 10% of the whole population. See The 40% solution.
While Catholic parishes in the central city might be struggling to hang onto members, some suburban counterparts are booming, said Wolf of the archdiocese.
After all, it's not the preferential option of the poor.
...or perhaps ex-Catholics (sic) are simply more honest.
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