US Catholic Church Facing Extinction

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Recent data is supporting the prediction by Michael Voris that the Catholic Church in America is facing extinction in the next decade.

In his new book Resistance, Voris notes that by 2020 the number of former Catholics will be greater than those who self-identify as Catholic. He adds that if current trends hold, "the U.S. Church will be looking at practical extinction."

Supporting that claim are recent statistics from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) that show the U.S. Catholic population peaked in 2010. The report also found that in 2016 some 74.2 million people in the United States claimed to be Catholic, but almost 80 percent of them don't attend Mass.

Similar statistics from Pew Research Center in 2015 showed that more than half of all Catholics have left the Church, and only one in 10 have returned. CARA also put out a report in 2009 that found 60 percent of Catholics were over the age of 40. There are now more Catholics attending Mass over the age of 65 than there are under 65.

Watch the panel discuss the solution to the crisis in The Download—The Numbers.

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