I am late in posting these figures, but here are the 2011 Eastern Catholic Churches statistics as reported by ANNUARIO PONTIFICIO.

http://www.cnewa.org/source-images/Roberson-eastcath-statistics/eastcatholic-stat11.pdf

Thanks, Tom. Someone referenced the new stats about 2 weeks ago and I too thought about the fact that I hadn't yet gotten around to looking at them and posting the link. Then, I forgot

Now that the link is up, let the fun begin. Myself, I'm too tired tonight to start the dissection, but I'm sure someone will make themselves available.

I do want to make a single observation though. Since the Vatican saw fit, several years ago now, to appoint Bishop Werth as Ordinary for Faithful of the Oriental Rites (Byzantine) in Russia (or whatever his formal title in that capacity is, since they've never officially publicized it of which I'm aware), it would seem to be about time that they added it to the listing of Ordinariates and put a number to it.

Many years,

Neil, tiring of the charade that pretends that the Russian Greek-Catholic Church will go away and disappear if ignored long enough

Ok, couln't resist a quick look. Overall, changes from 2010 to 2011, both +/-, are much more conservative than has been the case in years past. Maybe, just maybe, somebody finally got the idea that there should be an attempt to try and produce accurate numbers one of these years.

I also notice that, after years of reporting 0 faithful, the Polish Ordinariate has, for the 3rd year running, managed to count them (few as they are) and miraculously has now located its parishes as well. Will wonders never cease?

Many years,

Neil

Thanks for these observation, Neil. I thought about the very same issues.

While this year's totals do not differ that much from last year's (except for the Armenian Catholic Church), it is still disturbing to see the continuing loss of Eastern Catholics in Iraq and Iran (expect a similar trend in Syria); the same yearly, rounded membership numbers interrupted by a sudden, drastic decline for certain eparchies; and the steady reduction of members in Eastern European eparchies in the U.S. accompanied by a rise in new parishioners by more recent Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara jurisdictions in America.

I also wondered about the Ordinariate for Eastern (non-Ukrainian) Catholics in Poland. I think it includes Armenian Catholic parishes as described in the following website:

http://noravank.am/eng/articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=6054

I've always been curious as to why there is always seemingly little mention in such of the common heritage of the Ruthenian, Slovak, Hungarian and "former Yugoslavian" churches, as listed here.

In saying that, I realize that this table was prepared on the basis of formal ecclesiastical lines.

Yet after seeing the video of the enthronement of Metropolitan William Skurla with all the hierarchs together and pondering the moment, it struck me that the "Ruthenian" Church suffers from a lack of formal cohesion present in larger Churches (eg. UGCC), and this may not help the cause of preserving this Church.

Debates about the strength of present leadership aside, is this an observation worthy of discussion and further consideration (or perhaps a moment of wishful thinking)?

How can those figures be taken seriously when it reports 380,000 for Phoenix? For stats to be helpful they must be truthful.

That's the line for Mukachevo. The reported tally for Phoenix was 2,561 for 2011.

Nonetheless, even 90,000 for Ruthenians in the U.S. is a massive over count; if the number of people at liturgy each Sunday exceeds one third of that, I will be greatly surprised. The reason for the over count is a combination of failure to prune parish rolls (pastors want to keep the numbers up, lest their parish be next on the chopping block); double- and even triple-counting (X is registered in Parish A, despite having re-registered in Parish B, yet regularly attends and is registered in Latin Parish C) and a good dose of wishful thinking.

According to the table, the Ruthenians in the Archeparchy of Pittsburg have 58,700 people distributed across 79 parishes, for an average of 743 people per parish. For Parma, it's 8752 divided by 35, or 250 people per parish (still high). In Passaic, it's 206 people per parish; and for Phoenix/Van Nuys, it's 134 people per parish. The overall total is 87,449 people divided by 217 parishes, or an average of 402 people per parish. I think we can agree these numbers don't match the reality in our churches.

The figures for the Melkite Eparchy of Newton are scarcely more credible: 25,000 people divided over 42 parishes, or an average of 595 people per parish.

You raise a valid point: Who is an Eastern Catholic or an Eastern Orthodox or a "member" of any Church - someone who attends ever Sunday and Holyday, someone who donates regularly, someone on the mailing list, someone who claims to be a member? Who knows? Until we agree on a definition, we are comparing apples to oranges to pears to bananas.

I am struck by the 2010-2011 numbers for the Ukrainian Archeparchy of Philadelphia, which encompasses Northeastern Pennsylvania, a drop from 21,000 to 14,000, or a 33% decline in one year. What are the implications of this trend?

The numbers are a stark reminder of the lack of evangelization in the Eastern Catholic Churches.

Are we content to just go to liturgy and just get what we can get rather than (like the Protestants or Mormons) go out and gset come converts.

Also our priests are too busy - my priest is a wonderful priest but he is a bi ritual priest and spends quite a bit of time dealing with the lack of priests in the Latin Rite - SAYING MASS (the latin rite needs our priests but objects to a married priesthood!

I try and invite people to Liturgy

Also - it is a very disciplined liturgy - you have to really want to be Eastern Catholic - it takes a huge effort.

There are easier softer ways (I personally used to hide out in the Latin Rite - not having to DO much ) but these stats may reflect how modern people can't handle liturgy that requires a lot of attendance - standing through long prayers = the physical as well as the spiritual discipline.

By the way ... we are lucky to get 80 people throughout the weekend of liturgies on average. (not Families - total numbers of people)

I would bet the 595 per Melkite parish - they might be seeing 100 people over Sat Vespers and Sunday Divine Liturgy

if you look at the bulletins of some churches they report the number of people attending liturgy across a weekend.

I think I recall seeing 150 attending another very large byzantine church over an entire weekend.

One more post

The Orthodox have the same problem

There are estimates about membership reported in Orthodox Churches

The example is the the OCA reports like 2 or 3 million members
someone else estimated 800,000 (by examining bulletin reports etc)
The actual number may be less than 400,000 over the entire usa
*numbers to be verified by re reading the article

But what it shows is that numbers reported are way off even for the Orthodox (especially the orthodox)

At Annunciation we do not report average attendance. As a former pastor I have learned how to count. We have 50-60 children 12 and under. We have 12-15 teens. We have between 100 and 190 adults. We will range in attendance on Sunday morning 150-300. We have around 180 registered families. We always have visitors ranging from 2-3 to 60-70. We are among the largest three or four parishes in the Eparchy of Parma.

I've been in this kind of conversations before. The stats are nearly useless.

actually it was GOA GOARCH i was referring to.

Here is the 2010 census of Orthodox churches

http://www.orthodoxreality.org/


NOTE ADHERENTS VS REGULAR ATTENDEES *****

Obviously flawed statistics.

Hay,

I can't attest to the numbers. I don't know enough, but the categories are much more useful than the ones to which we have access in the BCC. Thanks.

CDL

carson - that is a huge church compared to the ones i've attended!

haydukovich,

I do understand that in most areas our churches are quite small. Let us praise God in whatever setting we find ourselves. I do think that there are ways to be obedient to the Evangel call that Christ gives all of us, no matter in what situation we find ourselves. Proper stats can be helpful. They aren't essential. I'm fairly certain that most Christian churches have very little understanding of the stats of other churches. For that matter a local Church can grow despite what the eparchy does. We need to just do it.

Care for the people wherever they are and that goes for all of our members.

That someone decided to do a head count, instead of estimating off the last real census from decades earlier. There comes a time when even the most cockeyed optimist has to accept the evidence of his own eyes.

As for the Apostolic Exarchate of Sofia the Statistics for 2010 were much more realistic and precise, at least concerning the numbers of the secular and religious priests, which in the file for 2011 are simply not accurate.


And the Melkite Exarchate of Kuwait does not exist just formally - http://www.rcckw.com/gallery.html

I think a more accurate counting of average attendance at our churches might be found by counting the number of cars in the lot and multiplying by 5. It couldn't be any worse.

Multiply by five for each minivan, by three for each sedan, and by two for each coupe.

But one gets a bigger count if one multiplies by five for every vehicle. Besides I know some vans that can easily carry 8.

I hadn't thought to look at the stats for the Exarchate, though I should have have. At the end of last year, my brother and friend, ag_vn, and I spent some considerable time compiling directory entries for the Byzantine Bulgarian Church.

There are no more than 19 active temples of the Church, and not all of those can truly be termed 'active parishes'.

The number includes at least one geographically remote and ancient church that has no regular schedule of Divine Liturgy and likely is served only for funerals of its village's elderly population. Another is a chapel located in the Resuurectionist Fathers' seminary in Poland which serves to train the Order's Byzantine Bulgarian priests.

Yet another is a beautiful and (relatively) new church, under the patronage of Blessed John Paul II, but in which the Divine Liturgy appears to only be served on major occasions - a nearby monastery chapel being the ordinary place of worship. And, in total, three of the 'parishes' are principally the chapels of monastic or religious communities, perhaps also serving a parish function.

2010 data at left: 2011 data at right

21 - parishes - 21
5 - secular priests - 16
16 - religious priests - 5
20 - male religious - 3
38 - female religious - 65

My brother can speak much more authoritatively than me on the validity of the 2011 versus 2010 data. However, I confidently vouch for what he has said. The Exarchate is very dependent on religious order priests - principally the Assumptionists, the Resurrectionists, and the Salesians of Don Bosco - and its website makes abundantly clear that the numbers of the three orders are significantly more than those of the secular clergy.

And, while Eucharistine and (if memory serves correctly, Carmelite) Sisters serve in the Exarchate, I saw nothing to suggest that their numbers would be nearly double those stated in 2010. As to male religious, I've once again forgotten who exactly is counted in that statistic, but the '3' reported in 2011 may be more accurate for that category.



I don't disagree. It certainly doesn't truly function on the level of a patriarchal exarchate. I believe there is the single small temple pictured in the photos and that the assigned priest serves as patriarchal vicar. It has a diverse but, as I remember, principally Palestinian congregation.

I strongly suspect that, in addition to the desire to provide the Palestinian Melkites with pastoral care, it is symbolically important since Kuwait is among the most religiously tolerant of the Arab states. As well, I believe that it may represent the furthest outpost of the acknowledged 'historical territories' of the Melkite Patriarchate - and, thus, be an important place in which to maintain an ecclesial foothold.

Many years,

Neil

Dan,

Of course you have. The annual vetting of these is as much a traditon here as observance of the Leave-Taking of the Great Pumpkin.

If it weren't for the yearly appearance of this thread and the annual enumeration of splinter groups dubbing themselves as 'Ukrainian Orthodox', however would we keep our minds sharp at counting?

Many years,

Neil

I don't mind the discussion. I just wish the numbers were a bit more accurate. I also wish a list of deceased priests would be included by name.

For what it's worth...

the numbers for the Eparchy of Phoenix are quite accurate. There are (according to the latest census for the Bishop's Appeal) 878 registered households in the Eparchy of Phoenix, so if my math is correct that's 2.91685 persons per household.