A Growing Church

Good news from the latest installment of KARL KEATING'S E-LETTER:

"'L'Osservatore Romano,' the Vatican newspaper, ran a chart showing how much and where the Church has been growing in the quarter-century ending in 2002. Today there are 1.07 billion Catholics in the world, up from 757 million in 1978. The Americas count for half of the total (North and South America are not distinguished in the chart), and Europe has about half the Catholics that the Americas have. The rest of the world has about as many as Europe has.

"What really is interesting is where the growth has been. The sick man has been Europe: only 5 percent growth in 25 years--not even keeping up with overall population growth. The winner is Africa, up 151 percent, from 55 million to 137 million. Next best is Asia, up 74 percent. The Americas increased by 46 percent.

"So much for the laity. What about priests? Again, Africa leads, with an increase of 73 percent. Asia is second again, with an increase of 65 percent. The Americas had an increase of only 1 percent, which at least was better than Europe, which saw a decline of 19 percent. If you think priests are spread thin here, take a trip across the Atlantic.

"There is a somewhat better situation regarding seminarians. Europe has seen an increase of 12 percent, which is a lot better than a decline of 19 percent! Africa leads with 76 percent more seminarians, and Asia saw a growth of 60 percent. The Americas are in third place, with 31 percent more seminarians than a decade ago."