Orthodox to Catholic and vice versa

[prodromas]

I don't know if I am getting this idea from a biased point of view or from good old anecdotal evidence but does there seem to be more conversions from Catholicism to Orthodoxy then Orthodox converting to Catholicism?

[FrChris]

Within what span of time? This year? Since 1054? 1204? 1453?

It's also important to remember that this board is self selective in that it is convert-heavy; therefore this may skew your perception.

Finally, because Roman Catholics outnumber Orthodox people 4:1, there is a greater potential of Catholic converts to Orthodoxy outnumbering Orthodox converts to Catholicism.

[Joseph-James]

I agree with Fr Chris about the likelihood of Catholic to Orthodox being greater because of the numbers, but I'd also say that the longer someone is Orthodox the less likely they are to go Catholic, because of differing theology, economia, fasting, calendars, and so on, assuming they have taken Orthodoxy to heart. It is just too big a stretch to leave all that most of the time.

[Marc1152]

I belong to one of the largest Parishes in the OCA. I would guess about 25% of the congregation is former RC.

But there is another issue to consider. When someone coverts to a religion like Mormonism from the RCC or an Evengelical community or such the like, I bet they are Catholics who have fallen away from the faith for the most part. On the other hand, Roman Catholics who become Orthodox are...just that, becoming more Orthodox. We are more likely to get pious Catholics, not so much those who are inactive or who have lost their faith.

Marc

[FrChris]

We are more likely to get pious Catholics, not so much those who are inactive or who have lost their faith.

This is true...my own observation is that it seems the converts we receive from Catholicism are those who tend to be pious, 'not your average bear' Catholic. They often describe themselves to me as 'contemplative' or a similar adjective.

This is differentiated from many Protestant converts, who tend to be those who have studied history to a greater extent than your 'average' Protestant.

From other faiths, the Islamic converts we have here are largely from marriage to an Orthodox Christian. Jewish and pagan (Wiccan) converts we've seen are more from a Protestant viewpoint---they study the history and then make a decision. I think the same for former Buddhists and Hindus.

Just my observations, so far.

[Catholig]

Does anyone here have any stats?

Catholig

[ialmisry]

Does anyone here have any stats?

Catholig

I don't think you will find any, for the simple reason I don't think any Orthodox Church keeps stats on what her converts are converting from.  So it would mostly be anecdotal.  In the bio's of the clergy you would find some information.  My present Bishop Mark was baptized in the Latin Church and then after a stint with the Pentacostals became Orthodox.  My past Bishop (I'm in a new jurisdiction) Bishop Job converted from under Rome to Orthdoxy.

On the other side you might get some idea of the Orthodox submitting to Rome by converts to the various sui juris jurisdictions. Trouble is that you would miss those who go all the way Latin rite.  I understand they're not supposed to do that, according to the official read of the canons, but I personally know it happens.

Going by country wouldn't help much: for example in Ireland there are a lot of converts, but there are a lot of immigrants, so the official stats on the number of Orthodox won't help.

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