GOOD FRIDAY: 10 WAYS THE CHURCH IS RISING

Via CatholicVote:

1. Christianity is growing worldwide.

"Christianity should enjoy a worldwide boom in the coming decades, but the vast majority of believers will be neither white nor European, nor Euro-American," writes scholar Philip Jenkins of Baylor University, author of The Next Christendom.

A few examples: Christianity grew from 40 million African members in 1900 to 100 million in 2000, and hasn't stopped; India has five times as many Catholics as Ireland, and China will be the country with the largest number of Christians in the world by the year 2050.

Secular scholars see this: Books like God's Century by Monica Duffy Toft of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and God Is Back by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge of The Economist are trying to figure out what that will mean. British geneticist Steve Jones sees sceptics dying out and religious people on the rise.

2. Believing Christians are Replacing Nominal Christians.

Meanwhile, in America, research showing Christian numbers in decline is a little misleading. Ed Stetzer points out that the data shows a decline in "cultural Christians" and "congregational Christians" but a rise in "convictional Christians."

In other words: The total number of people claiming they are Christians is dropping; the total number of people saying they have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is growing.

3. Catholics are rediscovering Confession and Mass.

Meanwhile, among Catholics, there is a rise in interest in the sacraments. Many parishes that rarely offered confession have returned to regular schedules and the Church has gone through a long process of renewing the Mass.

The Church is promoting confession as never before: Examples from Lent included Vatican's 24 hours for the Lord churchwide, a successful effort in Great Britain, Chicago's Festival of Forgiveness and Philadelphia's confession initiative.

4. Eucharistic Adoration is on the rise.

The worldwide church is led by a man who prays a daily Eucharistic hour and the Church in America is actively promoting Eucharistic adoration through events like the Eucharistic Adoration Novena.

In 2005, RealPresence.org's president, Mike Mortimer, estimated that there were 715 perpetual adoration chapels in America. The Vatican now estimates that there are 1,100 perpetual adoration chapels in America. More people are spending more time with the Lord than they have for years.

I don't remember encountering Eucharistic Adoration ever as a child or teen in the faith; now it is part of every youth activity my children attend from a variety of different groups.

5. Catholic youth movements are huge…

A movement's future is only as strong as its next generation, and so for Catholicism to have a future it has to have a youth movement. Catholicism does. Our most recent World Youth Day attracted 3.7 million - one of the 30-year event's largest gatherings ever.

At home, we see a pro-life force largely led by young American Catholics, which dwarfs almost every other activist movement.

I love the startled reaction of Nancy Keenan of NARAL when she stopped at Union Station in Washington, D.C., during the March for Life. She saw the young pro-life protesters and said, "There are so many, and they are so young..."

I encourage you to follow the link and read the rest of the list!