This is the first in a series on the current state of religion in Bermuda, based on the recent Census. this week, Sara Westhead looks at the Roman Catholic ChurchWhen the 2010 Census results were announced a few weeks ago, some details held little surprise, but one area that surprised many was in the area of religion.Bermudians have long held themselves as a religious society, with large percentages of the population being at least nominal attendees at local congregations. In fact, it was once claimed that Bermuda had more churches and golf courses per capita than any where else in the world.While there is certainly no shortage of choice for personal and corporate spiritual practice, the numbers of residents actually declarign a religious beleif during the census, has drastically declined between 2000 and 2010, particularly within the mainline denominations.Those churches seeing the greatest decline included the Anglican Church of Bermuda, with a decrease of 28 percentage points in those claiming to be Anglican in census, as did those claiming to be Methodist, Presbyterian/Congregational and Salvation Army. Brethren saw a decrease of 30 percent.Other groups showing significant losses included Church of God (down 21 percent), AME (down 19 percent), Pentecostal (down 18 percent) and Baptist (down 12 percent).While this appears to be a huge drop in those claiming a religious affiliation, Some groups did see increases. Non-denominational congregations saw a whopping increase of 33 percent, and Seventh-day Adventists saw an increase of six percent. Also, those claiming “Other”, which includes non-Christian groups, rose by 56 percent.Those numbers may seem to balance themselves out, but it is the last two categories that has had many religious experts concerned. Those claiming no religious affiliation rose by 34 percent, while those who were listed as “Not Stated” rose 134 percent.*The one church that saw negligible change in its reported numbers was the Roman Catholic Church.“It’s a complex question,” said Bishop Robert Kurtz, ecclesiastical head of the Roman Catholic Church in Bermuda, when asked about the reported numbers. “I fully expected to see a drop.”The Catholic church in Bermuda has gone through many changes in the last few years, in terms of the ethnic makeup of the the churches in Bermuda, especially as there has been a decrease in the Portuguese population by ten percent over the last ten years. However, those from Asian countries have doubled .“Many of them are from the Philippines, India, Bangladesh ... and they happen to be Catholic,” Bishop Kurtz added.There is also a relatively unique phenomenon amongst Catholics that even those who do not regularly practise their faith still call themselves Catholic.“In the last 30 to 40 years, there has been a great diminishment in the number of practicing Catholics,” Bishop Kurtz said.Looking at the numbers reported, Bishop Kurtz believes that only 20 percent of those reporting to be Catholic are actually regular attenders, and only about a quarter of those are truly active. The rest tend to be those who only attend services on Christmas, Easter and for special events.Another big challenge is that most of those who are practising Catholics are more mature and thus are ageing amd slowly dying off.“Pope Benedict has talked about the fact that what we have today is practical atheism. Religion is irrelevant... We don’t see God as part of our experience.”The challenge that many denominations and congregations now face is finding a way to help people, “see faith in God and the practice of our faith as relevant today”.Beginning in October 2012, the Pope has called for a “Year of Faith”, and will include a Synod of Bishops, whereby Catholic Bishops from around the world are expected to gather in Rome to discuss the challenge of sharing their faith in the modern world.“How do we communicate that the church has a great treasure?” Bishop Kurtz asked.The Catholic church has long had a relatively strong religious education programme, both within Mount Saint Agnes, which has about 400 children and of which three-quarters are from Catholic families, and then the additional 400 children attending catechism classes on Saturday’s.Retaining those young people has proven a challenge, however. Those between the ages of 20 and 40 appear to have the fewest number of regular attenders.While Bermuda, thankfully, has not been touched by the controversy that has plagued the Catholic church in recent years in other parts of the world, the church has struggled under the shame, and the understanding that while the church is divine, it is still human.“We are always in need of renewal,” Bishop Kurtz shared.He believes that while the church has made mistakes in the past, the church is now responding well by increasing the amount of psychological testing on seminarian candidates, training for teachers and volunteers, and in changing the way ministry is done, in order to better protect congregants.“I think we’re going to emerge stronger and purified,” Bishop Kurtz said. “The good news is the fact that if we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, we have hope.”The Bishop has called on Catholics to return to the faith and live lives that are examples to others.“We need to have people who live their faith in such a way that is simple, authentic, wholesome and inspirational,” he shared. “Faith brings satisfaction, happiness and solid values to a world that is constantly in flux.”*At the end of the 2010 Census data collection period, there were still 4,400 households that had not reported data. In order to make up for that imbalance, other administrative data sources were utilised to make estimated guesses for 1,106 households, comprising of 2,551 persons. Such a discrepancy may take into account the enormous increase amongst those listed as “Not Stated” in their religious affiliation between 2000 and 2010.