Topics of concern: percent Catholic, percent unchurched, poverty rates, multiculturalism

A new series of Glenmary Research Center maps makes it easy for Catholics living anywhere in the United States to compare how their county of residence stacks up against the counties identified by Glenmary as having “high mission need.”

Glenmary uses several criteria to define mission need—and to target areas for Glenmary to serve. In these counties...
• less than three percent are Catholic.
• 40 percent or more are unchurched.
• the poverty rate is twice the national average.

A common question asked of Glenmarians and coworkers when they visit parishes to make mission appeals or set up displays at vocation and ministry fairs is this: “How does the county where I live (work/go to school) compare with the areas where Glenmary missioners serve?

Since some of Glenmary’s recent maps (e.g., “The Status of Catholic Pastoral Ministry in the Southern United States 2000”) have focused just on the area Glenmary defines as Mission Land, USA, they have not been helpful to those living in New England, the Midwest or California who wish to draw comparisons.

These new maps, according to researcher Clifford Grammich, hope to do just that. Grammich, who collected the Catholic data for Religious Congregations & Membership: 2000, is compiling these new maps for Glenmary. The series, when complete by the end of March, will include:
• U.S. counties with low percentages of Catholics;
• U.S. counties with high poverty rates
• U.S. counties with over 40 percent of the population unchurched
• a composite of all of these factors to show degree of mission need.

Also included will be separate maps showing county by county percentages of Hispanics/Latinos, African Americans, Native Americans and Asian Americans.

All maps will be available at the end of March as PDFs for free download and can be printed on 8.5-by-11-inch paper.