Source
From 2003

I haven't seen this in a while so just wanted to post a few snips out of it.



"....I have no personal stories about what it was like before the Council. But I do have facts. And the facts show that the Church was in the midst of an unprecedented period of growth in the several decades before the Council.

That conclusion is inescapable by looking at the figures in just a few representative areas. And forgive me for throwing a lot of numbers at you, but as a lawyer I feel a statistic-laden brief is necessary to establish my case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Priests: In 1920 there were 21,019 total priests in the United States. In 1930 there were 26,925, in 1940 there were 33,912, in 1945 there were 38,451, in 1950 there were 42,970, in 1955 there were 46,970, in 1960 there were 53,796. This is not the mark of a declining Church, but of a vigorous Church — in 1960 it had a record number of men who were its frontline soldiers, whose ranks had grown 15 percent in the five years between 1955 and 1960.

Seminarians: As one would expect, as the number of priests increased, so did the number of seminarians — and it continued to increase substantially up to the Council. In 1920 there were 8,944 seminarians, in 1930 there were 16,300, in 1940 there were 17,087, in 1945 there were 21,523, in 1950 there were 25,622, in 1955 there were 32,394, in 1960 there were 39,896.

Seminaries: The bishops and heads of religious orders found it extremely difficult to keep up with demand and had to build scores of new seminaries. In 1945 there were 53 diocesan seminaries, in 1950 there were 72, in 1955 there were 78, in 1960 there were 96. This was a huge increase in property plant and equipment to accommodate the young men who were storming the seminaries to be trained as priests. Religious seminaries experienced similar growth. There were 258 in 1945, 316 in 1950, 385 in 1955, and 429 in 1960. Remember that building a seminary is a tremendous investment — it is really a leap of faith by the chief executive officer, in this case the bishop or head of a religious order, that the organization is growing and will continue to grow in the future. The tremendous boom in seminary construction was a true testament that the Church was growing and, more importantly, perceived itself to be growing, in the period before the Council.

Priestless parishes: And as one would also expect, as the number of priests increased, the number of parishes without a resident priest was declining. In 1945 there were 839 parishes without a resident pastor, in 1950 there were 791, in 1955 there were 673, in 1960 there were 546.

Brothers: The number of religious brothers was also on the increase in the decades before the Council. In 1945 there were 6,594, in 1950 there were 7,377, in 1955 there were 8,752, in 1960 there were 10,473.

Sisters: The next book that is crying out to be written is a study of the destruction of the convents and women's religious orders since the Second Vatican Council. What a profound tragedy. And the wreckage has been so devastating, so thorough, that one can only wonder whether it had a diabolical aspect to it. But contrary to what some would have you believe, it wasn't like that before the Council. In 1945 there were 138,079 sisters, in 1950 there were 147,310, in 1955 there were 158,069, in 1960 there were 168,527.

Parochial schools: Dioceses and parishes predict the future by building more schools in order to educate young Catholics. In 1920 there were 5,852 parochial schools, in 1930 there were 7,225, in 1940 there were 7,597, in 1945 there were 7,493, in 1950 there were 7,914, in 1955 there were 8,843, in 1960 there were 9,897.

Parochial school students: Parents who send their children to parochial schools show that they value a Catholic education and trust the parish to educate their children in the faith. In 1920 there were 1.7 million parochial school students, 1930 there were 2.2 million, in 1940 there were 2.1 million, in 1945 there were 2 million, in 1950 there were 2.4 million, in 1955 there were 3.2 million, in 1960 there were 4.2 million.

Infant baptisms: There were 710,000 in 1945, 943,000 in 1950, 1.1 million in 1955, 1.3 million in 1960.
Adult baptisms: The number of adult baptisms is a true sign of the strength of any religious organization. And in the years before the Council the number of adult baptisms was skyrocketing: 38,232 in 1930, 73,677 in 1940, 84,908 in 1945, 119,173 in 1950, 137,310 in 1955, and 146,212 in 1960.

These hard facts show a growing, vibrant, militant Church at the time the Second Vatican Council opened. Attempts to portray it otherwise are revisionist history by those who want to justify or explain away the revolution in the Church since the Council..."



"...Since Cardinal Ratzinger made these remarks in 1984, the crisis in the Church has accelerated. In every area that is statistically verifiable — for example, the number of priests, seminarians, priestless parishes, nuns, Mass attendance, converts and annulments — the "process of decadence" is apparent.

Priests: After skyrocketing from about 27,000 in 1930 to 58,000 in 1965, the number of priests in the United States dropped to 45,000 in 2002. And remember that in all of these statistics, the per capita decline has been even worse, because the number of Catholics has continued to increase since 1965. In 1965 there were 12.l85 priests for every 10,000 Catholics, in 2002 there were 7.l0 — a decline of 46 percent. By 2020, there will be about 31,000 priests — and only 15,000 will be under the age of 70. Right now there are more priests age 80 to 84 than there are age 30 to 34.

Ordinations: In 1965 there were 1,575 ordinations to the priesthood, in 2002 there were 450, a decline of 350 percent. Taking into account ordinations, deaths and departures, in 1965 there was a net gain of 725 priests. In 1998, there was a net loss of 810.

Priestless parishes: About 3 percent of parishes, 549, were without a resident priest in 1965. In 2002 there were 2,928 priestless parishes, about 15 percent of U.S. parishes. By 2020, a quarter of all parishes, 4,656, will have no priest.

Seminarians: Between 1965 and 2002, the number of seminarians dropped from 49,000 to 4,700 — a 90 percent decrease. Without any students, seminaries across the country have been sold or shuttered. There were 596 seminaries in 1965, and only 200 in 2000.

Sisters: 180,000 sisters were the backbone of the Catholic education and health systems in 1965. In 2002, there were 75,000 sisters, with an average age of 68. By 2020, the number of sisters will drop to 40,000 — and of these, only 21,000 will be age 70 or under. In 1965, 104,000 sisters were teaching, while in 2002 there were only 8,200 teachers. From 1965 to 2002, per capita, the number of sisters fell from 39.43 per 10,000 to 11.56 — a decline of 71 percent.

Brothers: The number of professed brothers decreased from about 12,000 in 1965 to 5,700 in 2002, with a further drop to 3,100 predicted for 2020.

High Schools: Between 1965 and 2002 the number of diocesan high schools fell from 1,566 to 786. At the same time the number of students dropped from almost 700,000 to 386,000.

Parochial Grade Schools: There were 10,503 parochial grade schools in 1965 and 6,623 in 2002. The number of students went from 4.5 million to 1.9 million.

Sacramental life: In 1965 there were 1.3 million infant baptisms, in 2002 there were 1 million. (In 1965 there were 287 infant baptisms for every 10,000 Catholics, in 2002 there were 154 — a decline of 46 percent.) In 1965 there were 126,000 adult baptisms in 2002 there were 80,000. In 1965 there were 352,000 Catholic marriages, in 2002 there were 256,000. In 1968 there were 338 annulments, in 2002 there were 50,000.

Mass attendance: A 1958 Gallup poll reported that 74 percent of Catholics went to Sunday Mass in 1958. A 1994 University of Notre Dame study found that the attendance rate was 26.6 percent. A more recent study by Fordham University professor James Lothian concluded that 65 percent of Catholics went to Sunday Mass in 1965, while the rate dropped to 25 percent in 2000...."

Apart from the fact that the perception of center has slid so far to the left that the term is entirely relative

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Interesting point, but the article did mention criteria it was using to define "conservative", and it included things like rejection of contraception and impurity in general, sermons on hell, Latin Mass, Gregorian chant, and other things that I would consider "conservative", although I'm not sure it's very precise to talk about Catholicism in such terms.

Traditional Catholicism is just "Catholicism" but clarified for a modern audience, to qualify and distinguish it from the Conciliar religion.

If Catholicism before 1960 didn't seize each person's Free Will and force them to follow Christ -- what makes you think Traditional Catholicism (basically, "Catholicism after 1960") would be any different?

Of course some are going to squander the graces in Traditional Catholicism. It's no different from how the Catholic Church ALWAYS WAS -- with saints, sinners, and in-between, and men with free will. Good and bad priests, good and bad bishops, and good and bad laymen.

BUT THE GRACES ARE THERE. And ONLY THERE. That is the point, and the reason for defending the Faith -- the Traditional Catholic Faith -- to the death.

It's the best place, the only place, to be. The only place where one has EVEN A CHANCE of keeping the Faith and saving his soul. You think you can do better elsewhere?

Ekim, get to the point.

You're going back to the Novus Ordo? Becoming protestant? Dogmatic Home-aloner (person who hates Novus Ordo but also Traditional Movement)? Giving up hope? Giving up the Faith? You seem to be in the thralls of some kind of blackpilled despair.

Or are you on Team Bishop Fellay? He also gave up on Tradition, in a different way. His view (held by 20% of SSPX priests, and 100% of the SSPX leadership) is as follows: Tradition hasn't de-facto solved the Crisis, so I'm giving up on it. It had its chance, it had a good run, but it hasn't worked. So let's build bigger buildings, make compromises and reach out to those of the Conciliar religion, so as to "pack the place" with thousands of Faithful and build up numerical superiority and "success".

If you've given up on Traditional Catholicism, I would ask you to please keep your black pills and despair to yourself. No one here needs a Denethor to shout his despair to all the brave soldiers manning the walls. "My line is ended!"

Because if you continue to shout your "Abandon your posts! Flee! Flee for your lives!" to demoralize and discourage the Trads on this Trad forum, I will have no choice but to play the role of Gandalf the White to your Denethor. i.e., Knock you out with my staff (ban you) and gainsay your words of despair with "Prepare for battle!"

What???

Are you kidding???

You who have been around in Tradition for 30 years can say this???

"The experiment of Tradition" was an extraordinary success. I became traditional in 1980 at the age of 14, and Tradition back then, and for many years after, was a very lonely life for a young man, or for older parents, all of whom found themselves very isolated and with very few friends indeed, not to mention limited availability of the Mass and sacraments, ceremonies in private homes, the proverbial garages, rented venues... perhaps you arrived on the scene just as things had improved somewhat.

Archbishop Lefebvre asked of Paul VI to be allowed to conduct this experiment, hoping that Rome would see the good fruits and return to Tradition, seeing how the Council and the reforms had produced only bad fruits. This was refused him, and so the experiment took place outside of the "Official Church" and without Rome's approval. Those of us who lived through this period would never have believed it possible that the Traditional movement could enjoy such extraordinary growth and vitality in so few years. Yes, indeed, it was a great success and we saw all the wonderful fruits in large, holy families, living the Faith and the life of grace in this wicked world, conversions, religious vocations, the multiplication of churches and religious institutions, Catholic printing houses, the ready availability once again of traditional books, images and devotional items. The revival was truly amazing. How blessed we have been, and how different it might have been!

And this is the great evil of the neo-SSPX vis-a-vis modernist Rome. They pretended to be only doing what the Archbishop was doing. Yet this experiment he requested had already taken place without Rome's approval. Rome saw the unequivocal and undeniable good fruits in abundance, and still they continued relentlessly with their reforming madness and their crusade to destroy Tradition.

"Tradition is not blessed any greater than other religions". It is the NO that should be your comparison, not "other religions", and it is not just numbers we are talking about, but the spiritual manifestations of the Faith - not the fantastic that you seem to be seeking, miracles and mystical phenomena and the like, but keeping and living the Faith in a world that makes it nigh impossible: Catholic families, religious vocations, churches, seminaries, religious houses. What is the wonder if other false religions prosper that pander to the flesh and man's fallen nature in a world where even "Catholic" authority is used to promote such a false notion of religion?

The survival and expansion of Catholic Tradition in this world without the help of Catholic authority is a miracle in itself. All praise and thanks to God for His mercies!

As one looks through rose colored glasses.  

The numbers of children raised in Tradition..,who stay dedicated to the Traditional faith are few. 

I would not consider the meager growth over 62 years as “flourishing” but mearly getting-by.

The many “Traditional” priests who have stayed TRUE to Tradition as exemplified by H.E. Archbishop Lefebvre are few.

if you are talking about folks who like the smells and bells of Traditional Catholicism, Tradcuмinist’s,  and don’t mind compromising Tradition, like the Neo-SSPX and off-shoot indult organizations, than yes your observations are true.  However, for those who hold fast to Tradition, uncompromised, not so much.