Catholics Are Rapidly Losing Ground, by Eric Sammons

By Eric Sammons, Crisis Magazine, March 4, 2025

Eric Sammons is the editor-in-chief of Crisis Magazine.

A new survey shows that for every 100 new Catholics, more than 800 people leave the Church. As bad as that is, the news is actually worse when we look more closely at the numbers. Radical changes are needed.

Last week the Pew Research Center released a new survey on religion in America; their first major study of this type since 2014. Upon the survey’s publication, I could almost hear a collective groan from Catholics, since we’ve come to approach such polls with a sense of dread. The question isn’t, “Will it be bad?” The question is, “How bad will it be?”

I won’t bury the lede: it’s bad. Really bad.

Only 19% of Americans self-identify as Catholic, down from 24% in 2007. This is a 20% decrease. By comparison, Protestants decreased by 21%, while religious “nones” increased by 81% and Muslims increased by an astounding 200% (although they still make up a small percentage of the overall population—only 1.2%). Even though the Pew Survey headline suggests that the decline in Christianity in this country may have “leveled off,” it’s clear the overall direction is downward. ….

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