Last month, I released an episode about a Pew study saying Catholics are experiencing more of a decline than Protestants.

I also gave some practical tips for what we can do as a church to help grow the body of Christ and avoid off-putting triumphalism or being lulled into complacency.

The episode spurred a few responses on social media, including from my friend and colleague Joe Heschmeyer.

So in today's episode, I want to go through some of their claims not to double down on bad news, but to provide clarity on the issue, including some that I lacked in the previous episode and discuss a solution to this decline that I didn't mention previously. I also sent this script to Joe, and he gave it his seal of approval. So I think you'll

like today's perspective. So to help all of this stay clear, I want to focus on three questions

related to the church in America, though this is happening in other parts of the world as well,

as I noted in a previous episode where I talked about how the church is losing Latin America.

So here's the questions

regarding Catholicism in America. One, how many people are becoming Catholic? Two, how many people

are leaving Catholicism and why? Three, what are we neglecting right now? Before I answer these

questions, I want to address some preliminary issues. First, I'm going to talk a lot about statistics, but don't think I'm just obsessed with winning a numbers game. Every single figure

I discussed in today's episode refers to a person or persons with immortal souls, and I want

all people to be in full communion with the church Jesus Christ established. Second, don't think my concern about Catholic decline means I'm not worried about overall

decline in Christianity in America, which according to Pew is hopefully leveling off.

That's why I will always be committed to defending the fundamentals of the Christian faith,

like God's existence and Christ resurrection.

It's also why I've episodes

scheduled soon on topics like Jesus's status as the Messiah and religious pro-choice propaganda.

I'm also doing research for an episode devoted to the work of popular critical Bible scholar

Dan McClellan, so stay tuned for that. But I also know that salvation is from the one holy,

Catholic, and apostolic church Christ

established. So it's important to understand why people join and leave that church. So let's begin.

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