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F R I D A Y , A P R I L 1 5 , 2 0 0 5Catholicism On The Decline in Latin Americaby Michael in New York on
4/15/2005 12:12:00 PMHow effective was the papacy of John Paul II? The LA Timeshas been running a series of articles on the state of theChurch. The latest looks at Latin America, where Catholicismwas once so completely dominant it boggles the mind. Nowevangelical Christians are gorwing by leaps and bounds. Perthe LA Times:In countries where Catholics once accounted for more than90% of the population, evangelicals now constitute asignificant religious minority, sometimes with social andpolitical clout beyond their numbers.In Chile, Honduras and Brazil, for example, about 15% ofthe population describes itself as evangelical Protestant.The figure rises to 22% in El Salvador; in Guatemala, it's25%. In Mexico's southern Chiapas state, local pressreports estimate the evangelical population to be 36% ofadults.Paraguay, albeit still overwhelmingly Catholic, now has itsfirst evangelical president, Nicanor Duarte Frutos. PresidentAlvaro Uribe of Colombia made news when he triedreaching out to evangelicals, who now make up about 10%of the country's population.How'd they do it? Much like in the US -- the media. They've beenbuying up TV and radio stations, training ministers in months insteadof years, capitalizing on the Catholic Church's entanglement in somany governments, and generally being smarter and more nimble.One simple fact remains: the Catholic Church grew from 750 millionto 1 billion during JP II's reign. But without enough priests to ministerto them (the shortage of priests in Latin America is so severe peoplecan go six months to a year without seeing one), how will the flock betended?
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4/15/2005 12:12:00 PMHow effective was the papacy of John Paul II? The LA Timeshas been running a series of articles on the state of theChurch. The latest looks at Latin America, where Catholicismwas once so completely dominant it boggles the mind. Nowevangelical Christians are gorwing by leaps and bounds. Perthe LA Times:In countries where Catholics once accounted for more than90% of the population, evangelicals now constitute asignificant religious minority, sometimes with social andpolitical clout beyond their numbers.In Chile, Honduras and Brazil, for example, about 15% ofthe population describes itself as evangelical Protestant.The figure rises to 22% in El Salvador; in Guatemala, it's25%. In Mexico's southern Chiapas state, local pressreports estimate the evangelical population to be 36% ofadults.Paraguay, albeit still overwhelmingly Catholic, now has itsfirst evangelical president, Nicanor Duarte Frutos. PresidentAlvaro Uribe of Colombia made news when he triedreaching out to evangelicals, who now make up about 10%of the country's population.How'd they do it? Much like in the US -- the media. They've beenbuying up TV and radio stations, training ministers in months insteadof years, capitalizing on the Catholic Church's entanglement in somany governments, and generally being smarter and more nimble.One simple fact remains: the Catholic Church grew from 750 millionto 1 billion during JP II's reign. But without enough priests to ministerto them (the shortage of priests in Latin America is so severe peoplecan go six months to a year without seeing one), how will the flock betended?
MORE POSTS ABOUT: CATHOLIC CHURCH
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Daily KosIOKIYAPI (It's OK If You're A Private Insurer) -Here's William Kristol revealing the *horrors*hidden within the health care bill as it emergedfrom the HELP committee... For Kennedy and hisco-autho...2 minutes ago
Ben SmithObama: Cambridge police acted 'stupidly' - Afterspending most of an hour patiently reiterating hisarguments for changing the health insurancesystem, President Barack Obama turned his press45 minutes ago
HuffPost PoliticsKathleen Wells: Congressman Rangel on HealthCare Reform - Congressman Rangel: If somebodyis sick and needs insurance, it is just immoral forthem to be denied this opportunity.1 hour ago
Paul KrugmanProfessor in chief - I found Obama's health carepresentation so impressive - so much command ofthe issues - that it had me worried. If I really like apoliticians' speech, is...1 hour ago
EschatonObama Speaks - In Case You Missed It1 hour agoJ O H N ' S P H OT O S
Show AllA M E R I C A B L O G T V
Next 6AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Catholi...http://www.americablog.com/2005/04/catholicism-on-decline-in...
1 of 57/22/09 10:59 PM
Visit our AMERICAblog TV site.see all 322 videos >I collect with
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For the GOPers, healthcare is politics. They just
Traditional media has todebunk the birthers
One small step...
The right-wing media, thevoices of the GOP, in
REM - Orange CrushAMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Catholi...http://www.americablog.com/2005/04/catholicism-on-decline-in...
2 of 57/22/09 10:59 PM
Ezra KleinTab Dump3 hours agoWonk RoomSen. Byron Dorgan:The ‘Trade’ InCap-And-Trade ‘MakesNo Sense To Me’4 hours agoHealth BeatTruth Squad: WallStreet Journal HealthCare Editorial Wrong onthe Facts . . .5 hours agoThe TreatmentHatch Is Out7 hours agoDaily DoseProviders Endorse 'Payfor Value' Proposals12 hours agoG AY P O L I T I C S
Visit our new gay politicssection, AMERICAblog Gay.F E E D S
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N E W S L I N K SUSWashington PostNYTAP PoliticsReuters PoliticsRasmussen PollsTimeNewsweekRoll CallThe HillABCNews
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Recurring monthlydonation$
Donations are nottax-deductible.L A B E L S
Select a labelL A S T 1 0 0 V I S I T O R SRecent Visitors
A B O U TA M E R I C A B L O GWhy AMERICAblog?Because a great nationdeserves the truth.What issues do youcover?US politics overall with aparticular focus on theObama Administration, theradical right, and civilrights.Who are you?John AravosisEditorWashington, DCJoe SudbayDeputy EditorWashington, DCChris RyanAssociate EditorParis, FranceRobert ArenaContributing EditorBaltimore, MarylandJacki SchechnerContributing EditorWashington, DCAMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Catholi...http://www.americablog.com/2005/04/catholicism-on-decline-in...
4 of 57/22/09 10:59 PM
© 2009 - John Aravosis | Design maintenance by Jason RosenbaumSend me your tips: americablog@starpower.netAMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Catholi...http://www.americablog.com/2005/04/catholicism-on-decline-in...
5 of 57/22/09 10:59 PM