The parish consolidations in the oldest diocese in the country are evidence of a shrinking church in a shrinking city. The entry for Baltimore in the 1970 edition of Compton's Encyclopedia with which I grew up begins: "Baltimore, Md. The sixth largest city in the United States is Baltimore." Today, it is the 31st largest city in the country, its population having shrunk 1.17% just last year.
Growth and Decline in the US Catholic Church
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