Lack of clergymen, churches hounds Catholicism in PHL –Archbishop Cruz

Amid the shifting in the geographic distribution of Catholics in the world, the Philippines has seen a slight decline in the ratio of Catholics to the country's total population over the last two decades.

Census data from 1990 to 2010 showed that while the number of Roman Catholics has gone up from 50.2 million to 74.2 million, its percentage to total population had gone down slightly, from 82.9 percent to 80.6 percent.

But the bigger concern lies in an even smaller statistic: the dismal number of priests that are supposed to lead the faithful.

According to Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, the Catholic Church in the Philippines has gone way below the ideal 1:2,000 priest-faithful ratio, with one priest leading 20,000 people.

"Ang pinakamalaking problema ng Simbahan sa Pilipinas ay compared sa dami ng mga Katoliko, kaunti ang mga pari. Hindi sapat para akayin ang mga Katoliko sa wastong pananampalataya," he told GMA News TV's “News To Go” in an interview on Wednesday.

Putting it more succinctly, Cruz said: "Dumarami ang Pilipino, pero kumakaunti ang mga pari."

Data from the 2014-2015 Catholic Directory of the Philippines (Claretian Publications), as posted by the Papal Visit Facebook page, showed that the country has 88.9 Filipino Catholics.

In turn, the number of clergymen are:

* 2,115 religious priests (i.e. Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, Recollects)
* 6,118 diocesan priests
* 11 auxiliary bishops
* 69 bishops
* 16 archbishops
* 2 cardinals
* 32 archbishops/bishops emeriti
* 2 cardinals emeriti

Churches 'not enough'

Aside from fewer clergymen, Cruz said the number of Catholic churches in the Philippines is also not enough to house the faithful.

"The churches we have are not enough. Even if there are three to four Masses on Sundays, if everyone will go to church, kulang ang simbahan. Kulang sa bilang, kulang sa laki," Cruz said.

He redirected the problem back to the lack of clergymen, since "the shepherd goes to the sheep, not the sheep goes to the shepherd."

'Less religious'

But the bigger problem related to the aforementioned factors, at least according to Cruz, is how Filipino Catholics appear "less religious" than those in other religions.

A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted in February 2013 showed that 9.2 percent of Catholics here, or about one in every 11 people, "strongly or else somewhat agreed" with the statement, "Sometimes I think I might leave the Catholic Church."

The survey, which sought 1,200 registered voters nationwide, also showed that Catholics attend church less frequently.

"Compared with other religious groups, Catholics are the least religious," the summary of findings by SWS said. "Only 29 percent of Catholics consider themselves very religious."

It added that only 37 percent of Catholics "attend church weekly," twice less than the percentages of other Christians who are weekly churchgoerrs.

Catholics' weekly church attendance has statistically seen a "highly significant" decline between 1991 and 2013, it added.

Pinoys have 'much trust' in Pope

The Filipino Catholics' loosening hold on their faith is something Church officials here said they hope would be also addressed by the upcoming visit of Pope Francis.

Many had said the Pope's election to the papacy in March 2013 was a welcome development for the troubled Church. The first non-European and Latin American pontiff in more than a millennium, he was seen as "a pope who probably upset some people... by not following the formula."

Known for his pastoral work and his personal approach in his vocation, the 78-year-old came out to be a "pontiff of firsts" and has endeared himself to the Catholic faithfuls, as well as to members and leaders of other religions.

In the Philippines, 72 percent of Filipinos said in an SWS survey that they have "much trust" in Pope Francis, who got a net trust rating of +59, or "very good."

The pontiff, formerly Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, maintained this standing from September 2013.

Pope Francis' trust ratings, however, was not as high as that of now-Saint John Paul II, who was regarded with an all-time high of "excellent" +72 in April 1995, a few months after his second visit to the Philippines for the World Youth Day Celebrations.

John Paul II, who was declared saint by Pope Francis in April 2013, enjoyed "very good" trust ratings until his death in April 2005.

Still, Francis was not far off from John Paul II, and his trust ratings from all religions went up compared to September 2013. His score among members of Iglesia ni Cristo has improved to "good" +33 from "moderate" +23, while his trust ratings went up two points among Muslims, from a "poor" -10 to "neutral" -8.

Meanwhile, he enjoyed a "good" +40 among other Christians, eight points up from September 2013's +32. —KBK, GMA News