Shameless Popery #224 Ranking the Best And Worst Catholic Dioceses in America
16 snips
Nov 13, 2025 Dive into the surprising rankings of American dioceses based on their spiritual fruitfulness! Explore the stark contrasts between high and low seminarian ratios, baptism rates, and conversion successes. Discover how demographic challenges and regional patterns impact diocese health, with Nashville shining and Brownsville struggling. Learn about innovative outreach efforts and the case for breaking up large dioceses to foster connection. Joe encourages listeners to make a difference locally and cultivate vibrant parish communities!
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Four Metrics Define Spiritual Fruitfulness
- Ziegler measures diocesan fruitfulness by seminarians, Catholic weddings, infant baptisms, and non-infant conversions per Catholic population.
- These four metrics give a practical, if imperfect, proxy for spiritual health across dioceses.
Diocesan Outcomes Vary Dramatically
- The data show enormous variation between dioceses in those four metrics, not mere random noise.
- Regional differences mean local context heavily shapes Catholic vitality.
Seminarian Gap: Rapid City vs Brownsville
- Rapid City has one seminarian per 1,900 Catholics while Brownsville has one per 169,933, a nearly 89-fold gap.
- This contrast illustrates how extreme vocational disparities can be between dioceses.