If Catholic Books Sales And Catholic Web Traffic Aren't As High As Protestant Book Sales Or Web Traffic, Is The Tide Really Turning Towards Catholicism?   By Dave Hartline

It never ceases to amaze me as to how many hits I continue to get on my website for my archived series of articles entitled “The Tide Is Turning Towards Catholicism.”  However, I do get some e-mails asking me if the tide is turning then why isn’t there more traffic on Catholic web sites and why aren’t there more Catholic book sales?  These are very good questions.  Indeed, all the major Catholic websites and blogs like the Anchoress, Jimmy Akin, Catholic Answers, Patrick Madrid's Surprised By Truth, Mark Shea, Spirit Daily and Amy Welborn combined with the smaller, growing and newer blogs like those run by David and Jonathan Bennett, Michael Dubruiel, Rich Leonardi, Scott Warmka and yours truly would probably equal the traffic of ESPN’s website. Keep in mind ESPN is just one of a number of major sports websites. Fox Sports is another website and there are various websites for each professional and college team as well as one for each college or professional sport. What does this say about Catholics, Catholic bookstores and Catholic websites?

Catholic book sales fall behind many Protestant book sales.  There is no “Purpose Driven Life” book for the Catholic world.  Catholic bookstores, along with most Catholic publishing houses are essentially mom and pop operations.  Usually, Catholic book publishers can only put out a few books in the spring and fall.  The faith and dedication of many of these Catholic publishing houses is to be commended.  Unfortunately, they don't have the muscle that many Protestant oriented publishing houses do. With all this information, you might well ask how in the world is The Tide is Turning Towards Catholicism?

If you have ever been on an ocean beach and meticulously watched the tide gradually inch back in from low tide, you’ll understand what I am saying.  It may seem painfully slow at first, probably as exciting as watching paint dry, but if you leave the beach for any length of time and return you are generally amazed as to how much the tide has increased from your last observation.  I believe the same holds true for our faith.  The Tide Is Turning Towards Catholicism.  We are just in the initial phases of the tide changing; soon we will see the impacts on the beach.

Some time ago on my website, I noted a comment a priest made to me.  This priest always struck me as pretty mainstream, certainly not an ideologue, if anything he might have tilted to the left on some issues.  He told me that few Catholics would ever know how close the Catholic Church came to imploding in the late 1970’s. What didn’t happen to the Catholic Church did happen to the Anglican/Episcopal Church and some other mainline Protestant churches.  Their numbers have drastically fallen off as more traditional members have left for more traditional churches.  I have written before that it’s my belief that Pope John Paul II, Mother Theresa and Mother Angelica did more to help the faith than we will ever know.  By their steadfastness, these  three kept us in business. Otherwise, there may not have been a tide to turn.

Pope John Paul II tried to put the clamps on the “whatever floats your boat ideology” that had crept into the Catholic Church and now has almost engulfed several mainline Protestant churches.  The result being the Catholic Church is growing worldwide.  In much of Africa and Asia there are so many studying for religious life, that the seminaries and convents are running out of room.  Even in this country many traditional orders are finding a marked increase in the number studying for religious life.  Many aren’t aware of this but as you see the tide is turning.

I am amazed as to how many Catholic schools students had recently become interested in the signs, symbols and traditions of the Church. I have noticed a big difference since I started teaching in the late 1980's.   Many will say that young people and their parents aren’t going to Mass like they were 40 or 50 years ago.  That’s true some of that may have to do with their parents.  However, those young people who are going to Mass really want to know about their faith.  Catholic Identity within Catholic schools is almost a night and day difference from the 1970’s and 1980’s compared to the present..  It is so much better now than it was then.  Many don’t realize this but I can speak with personal experience about the emphasis on Catholic Identity compared to 20 or 25 years ago. This generation of kids will not be known as the lost generation.  That lost generation designation falls to my age group, those  who are roughly in their early 30's to late 40's.  Some places were immune from this but more than likely you were included if you fall into this age category.

Today’s 25 and under crowd reads, gets involved and generally researches their faith and ideas so much more than those of us did when we were their age.  This alone is a sign of hope.  In addition, many adults in their 30 and 40 who now have children in Catholic schools or parish schools of religion (CCD) are also seeking more information about their faith. I know when I was a principal many parents told me that they felt short changed in their Catholic education.  Parishes are doing a much better job of bringing in speakers and setting up programs for their parishioners than they did a couple decades back.

Catholics on the whole are more introspective about their faith.  We generally don’t feel compelled and probably would feel awkward knocking on doors or standing on the street corner discussing our faith.  We probably don't comment as much on blogs as our Protestant brothers and sisters. We are more content to read the comments of others and make our judgements rather than immediately reply.  Although, it certainly helps when there's discussion.  A few interesting voices can really launch some interesting debates. Our faith is so rich with tradition and scholarship that one can always study our faith and never run out of interesting topics to research. Once Pope John Paul II signaled that he was embracing the traditions of the faith and now that Pope Benedict is doing the same, it sends a powerful message that we hold this faith dear.  We are not going down the path that some denominations have gone and practically thrown out the baby with the bath water.

More people are now reading Catholic websites than one year ago and Catholic books sales last year were higher than they were in previous years. Slowly but surely Tide is Turning.  The worst of the Abuse Scandal is behind us.  Many involved in the scandal were those who wanted the Church to change.  One only need look at the numbers of the denominations that have embraced the “whatever floats your boat theology.”  Those churches are continuing to lose their members to more conservative Evangelical churches or to the Catholic Church as is often the case with Anglicans/Episcopalians  Archbishop Edwin O'Brien's quote  “One might give their life for a mystery but not for a question mark,”  was for those considering a vocation but it might well have been for any person of faith. The Church is very certain in her beliefs.  Two thousand years of God’s revelations isn’t about to be changed to woo those who don’t like certitude.  

Much like a proud sports franchise or theater production company that had to get back to its roots, the Catholic Church is poised to ride the tide with a vengeance.   The tide may seem low now but just watch carefully as with each wave the tide continues to move up closer to the shore.  Those not paying careful attention will soon find the tide is getting closer to them.  They can embrace it or turn their backs on it.  It looks more and more like the faithful are noticing and enjoying how The Tide Is Turning Towards Catholicism.   Comments Click Here