The decline in the Catholic population shown by the 2013 census “is quite alarming”, according to history professor Peter Lineham of Massey University.
In the 2006 national census, 508,761 people identified themselves as Catholic. By the time of the 2013 census that had fallen to 492,111.
The census results show that the number of self-identified Catholics in every diocese except Auckland fell from 2006 to 2013.
Lineham thinks there are good reasons to expect that trend to not only continue, but perhaps extend to Auckland.
He says the increase in Auckland can be attributed to migration and once migrants have been here for 10 years or so, their pattern of loyalty or joining falls away.
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