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US Catholic population rises by nearly 1 million; Mormons 4th-largest religious body

March 17, 2010

The Catholic population of the United States rose from 67,117,016 to 68,115,001 between the beginning and end of 2008-- an increase of 1.49%, according to the recently published 2010 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches. In 2007, the Catholic population had fallen by nearly 400,000.

Also reporting increases in 2008 were the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (ranked 4th), Assemblies of God (9th), Jehovah’s Witnesses (22nd), and the Tennessee-based Church of God (24th).

The reference book offers a statistical survey of Catholics, Protestants, and groups such as the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses but does not rank Jews and Muslims. Mainline Protestant communities such as the Presbyterian Church (USA) (10th) and the Episcopal Church (15th) continued to suffer steep declines. More conservative Protestant bodies such as the Southern Baptist Convention (2nd) and the Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod (14th) lost members as well.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Catholic Church in US, Canada among religious bodies gaining members (CNS)
• Catholics, Mormons, Assemblies of God growing; Mainline churches report a continuing decline (National Council of Churches)
• Number of US Catholics declines by 398,000 (CWN, 2/26/09)

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