www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News The Numbers Are Out For 2004

Shlomo Lkhoolkhoon,
Here are the general numbers of Eastern Catholics World Wide.

Poosh BaShlomo Lkhoolkhoon,
Yuhannon


Armenian Catholic Church 368,923

Coptic Catholic Church 242,513

Ethiopian/Eritrean Catholic Church 196,858

Syro-Malankara Catholic Church 404,052

Syriac Catholic Church 123,376

Maronite Church 3,106,792

Chaledean Catholic Church 382,637

Syro-Malabar Catholic Church 3,752,432

Melkite Catholic Church 1,340,913

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church 4,321,508

Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church 597,623

Romanian Catholic Church 746,000

Greek Catholics in Former Yugoslavia 76,670

Greek Byzantine Catholic Church 2,345

Bulgarian Byzantine Catholic Church 10,000

Slovak Greek Catholic Church 225,136

Italo-Albanian Byzantine Catholic Church 60,448

Hungarian Byzantine Catholic Church 268,935

Albanian Byzantine Catholic Church 3,000

Faithful of various Eastern Catholic Churches
without their own hierarchy 65,000

Here is a grafic representation of Eastern Catholic Churches Populations for 2004 [archeparchy.ca]

Good perspective. Not only are all the Eastern Catholics put together only a tiny percentage of all Catholics but the Byzantine Catholics are quite small compared with many of the other Eastern Catholic Churches.

I suspect that the Byzantines are among the most Americanized. Where might one find a breakdown of the numbers by country?

Dan L

Actually, these are the numbers reported in the 2004 Annuario Pontificio, published in the early months of 2004 and stating data collected in 2003. Ordinarily, Father Ron Roberson publishes the data on the CNEWA site, in pdf format, broken down by jurisdiction. Last I checked, he had not yet posted from the 2005 edition.

Many years,

Neil

Is it just me or has the Ukranian Greek Catholic Church gotten slightly smaller from what it was not so long ago. I'm sure it used to be in the region of 6 million?

Myles,

You can see and compare the 1990, 1995, 2000, 2003, and 2004 published data here [cnewa.org] . UGCC numbers were reported as slightly more than 5 mil in the 1995 and 2000 editions.

Many years,

Neil

Quite peculiar stats for the Bulgarian Byzantine Catholic Church...I was always under the assumption that there are more than 10,000 but it appears not...still seems a little strange to lose 5000 in one year...how exactly are the numbers calculated?

Also, how is the Catholic Church organised in Bulgaria? I know that there are 3 bishops for the whole country - 2 Latin and 1 Eastern...

Anton

Can anyone suggest why the Ukranian Greek Catholic Church has gotten smaller? ^_-

Anton and Myles,

The numbers reported vary significantly and, in my opinion, are often suspect. Figures are provided to the Vatican by individual jurisdictions, in instances such as the Bulgarian Church. In a case such as Ukraine, I believe that the major jurisdiction collects the data from its suffragn dioceses (those in its historical territory) and forwards them to Rome; other of its jurisdictions - those outside the historical bounds - are, I'm certain, required to report their data directly to Rome.

Obviously, when one sees absolutely round numbers and increases and decreases expressed in absolutely rounded increments, we're not looking at painstakingly developed census data, but at guesstimates. I think that, in the case of East European countries freed of the communist yoke about 1990, the earliest figures were optimistic guesses, with little factual data to back them up - consonant with Churches that had been able to function only in the least publically organized manner just a year or two before. Over time, I think one begins to see a dose of reality enter into the calculations and a downward trend begin to appear, as clerics begin to gain a handle on actual registered or participating parishioners.

As to the precise reasons for decreases in the Ukrainian GCC, I'll leave that to my Ukrainian brothers to speculate. Comparing 2000 to 2004 data, I see an increase in its German jurisdiction, to be expected from worker migration. Some other change results from erection of new jurisdictions, formed from territory ceded from older jurisdictions - but the gains in the former don't correlate with the losses in the latter, or explain a change of almost 1 mil. downward in the overall numbers.

Anton,

Nicopoli and Sofia & Plovdiv are the two Latin dioceses. Both are immediately subject to Rome, there being no metropolitanate designated. The former had about 30,000 Catholics in 2002 and the latter 35,000, according to the info posted at David Chaney's Catholic Hierarchy [catholic-hierarchy.org] site.

The Bulgarian Byzantine Church is presently organized as an Apostolic Exarchate, immediately subject to Rome. It was erected in 1926, replacing an Apostolic Administration that had been in place since the late 1800s, after a series of movements of faithful between Orthodoxy and Catholicism and back again had leveled out.

The Bulgarian Church, although it suffered, functioned with more freedom than many under early Communist rule in large measure as a result of the political finesse of Blessed John XXIII, who served in Vatican diplomatic roles there in the pre-WWII era and was instrumental in getting the government to be more accomodating than in neighboring countries. However, the situation worsened in the Cold War era, although the Church was never officially suppressed. A concise history of the Church is at the CNEWA [cnewa.org] site.

Many years,

Neil

i think the ukrainian-greek catholic church, ruthenian, "russian catholic church" should all merge and be the Kievan-greek catholic church, and Lubomyr elevated to patriarch, just my humble opinion. the ukrainian catholic chruch is not going to grow anywhere outside of ukraine as long as people thik it is a church only for ukrainians.

Interesting idea.

I just joined the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church in March, so now there are at least 597,624 members of that Church.

Hello folks, I noticed that the Romanian, the Chaldian, and the Slovak Catholic Churches have shrunk a lot. Mainly in the early 90's . The Romanian Church went from 2 million to 750,000. What happened to cause these Churches to shrink like they did?

There is great growth in the other Churches though.

Mateusz, that has been discussed I think since this Forum started, I think one of my very first posts was recommending the same thing. Patriarchal structure is not only Eastern but grants a greater level of autonomy as well as another layer of responsibility for overseeing liturgical and theological integrity. There is also strength in numbers and greater unity.