c. 2007 Religion News Service

Catholics Report Largest Growth Among U.S. Churches in 2005

(RNS) The Roman Catholic Church grew to 69.1 million members in 2005, making it the fastest-growing church in the country, followed closely by the Assemblies of God and the Mormons.

Catholics grew 1.94 percent in 2005, Assemblies of God grew 1.86 percent and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grew 1.63 percent, according to the 2007 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, produced by the National Council of Churches.

The Yearbook, released Monday (March 5), is widely considered the most authoritative source on church membership statistics. The 2007 Yearbook contains data from 2005 that were reported in 2006.

Rankings of the top 10 largest U.S. churches did not change from last year. Catholics remain the largest group, followed by the Southern Baptist Convention, the United Methodist Church, Mormons and the Church of God in Christ.

Rounding out the top 10 are the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc., the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the National Baptist Convention of America, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Assemblies of God.

Only three mainline Protestant denominations _ Methodists, Lutherans and Presbyterians _ are counted in the top 10 largest churches, and all three reported membership declines in 2005. The Presbyterian Church (USA) reported the largest decrease, at 2.84 percent.

Of the top 25 largest churches, another mainline denomination, the United Church of Christ, reported the greatest decrease, 3.28 percent.

Several historically black denominations _ including the Church of God in Christ and the two National Baptist Conventions in the top 10 _ have consistently reported the same numbers, with no increase or decrease, for several years.

The top 10 largest U.S. churches include:

_ The Roman Catholic Church _ 69,135,254

_ The Southern Baptist Convention _ 16,270,315

_ The United Methodist Church _ 8,075,010

_ The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints _ 5,690,672

_ The Church of God in Christ _ 5,499,875

_ National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. _ 5,000,000

_ Evangelical Lutheran Church in America _ 4,850,776

_ National Baptist Convention of America _ 3,500,000

_ Presbyterian Church (USA) _ 3,098,842

_ Assemblies of God _ 2,830,861

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Vatican Reaffirms Ban on Membership in the Masons

VATICAN CITY (RNS) A high-ranking Vatican jurist has reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s ban on Catholics joining Masonic Lodges, stating that such membership disqualifies them from receiving the sacraments but stopping short of formal excommunication.

Bishop Gianfranco Girotti is the regent, or second-highest official, of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican tribunal with jurisdiction on matters relating to the forgiveness of sins, absolutions, dispensations and indulgences.

A Catholic who joins the Masons “is not excommunicated but finds himself in a state of grave sin, for which reason he may not receive the sacraments,” Girotti said, in remarks broadcast on Vatican radio.

Girotti cited a 1983 declaration to that effect by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the church’s highest doctrinal body. That declaration was signed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

The Catholic Church has long condemned Freemasonry, as the international fraternal organization is formally known, as an anti-Catholic cult. Masons in Catholic countries in Europe and Latin America have often supported limiting the church’s role in education and public life. Last month in the Dominican Republic, local Masons asked the government to end its 53-year-old concordat with the Vatican, which provides the church with state funding and other privileges.

The Catholic Church’s relationship with Freemasonry was in the Italian news last month, when an 85-year-old Paulist priest, the Rev. Rosario Francesco Esposito, joined the organization at a public ceremony in Rome, calling the prohibition on membership “a thing of the past.”

Also last month, the Vatican’s highest court let stand a Nebraska bishop’s blanket excommunication of the Masons in his diocese. Bishop Fabian W. Bruskewitz of Lincoln declared in 1996 that Catholics in the Freemasons and others groups faced automatic excommunication from the church, since membership “is totally incompatible with the Catholic faith.”

_ Francis X. Rocca

Canadian Soccer Player Told She Can’t Wear Hijab

TORONTO (RNS) Muslim groups in Canada are angry after soccer’s international governing body backed a referee who said an 11-year-old Ottawa girl could not play while wearing a hijab, or head scarf.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB), the game’s ultimate decision-making body, said a Quebec referee was right to eject Asmahan Mansour from an indoor game in Laval, Quebec, for refusing to remove her hijab.

The referee, who is Muslim, said the hijab was a safety concern and not standard equipment.

Officials of IFAB, a branch of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) _ soccer’s world governing body _ concluded in Manchester, England, that existing rules for on-field equipment are adequate.

“It’s absolutely right to be sensitive to people’s thoughts and philosophies, but equally there has to be a set of laws that are adhered to, and we favor Law 4 (which outlines basic equipment),” said Brian Barwick, chief executive of the English Football Association, which is one of IFAB’s members.

Mansour’s team, the Nepean Hotspurs, quit the Canadian indoor championship in protest. The girl said she has worn the hijab during games played in Ontario, where they are permitted by the provincial soccer association.

A spokesman for the Quebec Soccer Federation told the Reuters news agency that the rule is based on a Canadian Soccer Association rule banning all jewelry and headgear. The spokesman said the Quebec federation would allow Muslim players to wear head scarves if the CSA clarified its position.

The Ontario Soccer Association told CBC News that it allows Muslims to wear head scarves as an exception to a rule that headgear not wrap around the neck for safety reasons.

Sarah Elgazzar of the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) complained that on one hand, FIFA “promotes soccer amongst women by featuring hijab-clad players on their Web site; on the other, they have given free rein to individual referees to allow or prohibit the hijab. This situation is untenable.”

_ Ron Csillag

Quote of the Day: U2 Singer Bono

(RNS) “To those in the church who still sit in judgment on the AIDS emergency, let me climb into the pulpit for just one moment because whatever thoughts we have about God, who he is or even if God exists, most will agree that God has a special place for the poor.”

U2 lead singer and AIDS activist Bono, speaking after receiving the NAACP Image Awards Chairman’s Award on March 2.

KRE/LF END RNS