By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer

Even though the U.S. Catholic population increased during 2008, the number of adult conversions to Catholicism declined nine percent last year.

The latest statistics from The Official Catholic Directory show that there are 68,115,001 Catholics in the United States, making up 22 percent of the U.S.  population.  Because the U.S. population rose from 305.2 million to 307.6 million during that time, the percentage of Catholics in the U.S. population remained steady at 22 percent.

While the total number of Catholics increased by about one million from the previous year, the number of baptisms, confirmations, First Communions and marriages actually declined during the same period.

According to The Directory:

— There were 191,265 church-recognized marriages lats year, more than 5,000 fewer than the year before.

— Confirmations numbered more than 622,000, down about 8,500 from the previous year.

— First Communions numbered nearly 822,000, a drop of about 1,300.

— Infant baptisms totaled more than 887,000, down by almost 16,000.

— Adult baptisms and receptions into full communion totaled more than 124,000, a decline of more than 12,000 from the previous year.

The number of U.S. parishes also declined in the past year, down from 18,890 to 18,674.

Enrollment in diocesan and parish-run Catholic schools continued to decline in 2008. There were 13,000 less students enrolled in Catholic high schools and 57,000 less children in Catholic elementary schools.

While enrollment by public school students in high school religious education classes grew by more than 33,000 to more than 722,000, the number of elementary school students attending such classes fell by more than 64,000 to under 3.1 million last year.

The good news is that there was a slight increase in the number of priests, permanent deacons and diocesan seminarians last year, as well as increased enrollment in Catholic colleges and universities, and in private run Catholic schools.

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