The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea released its 2004 report on the state of the Church. The study shows that the number of Catholics rose by 2.4 per cent and that they now constitute 9.3 per cent of the population. However, the proportion of practicing Catholics dropped to about a quarter.

Seoul (AsiaNews) – The number of South Koreans who say they are Catholic is rising but the proportion of practicing faithful is down, this according to the recently published 2004 Statistics of the Catholic Church in Korea. The study highlights the fact that the Church in Korea is at an important turning point in its history and that it must adopt a new pastoral orientation and new pastoral strategies.

As of December 31, 2004, the total number of the Catholics stood at 4,537,844 or 9.3% of the total population (49,052,988). This represents an increase of 107,053 or 2.4 per cent over the previous year.

The number of the newly baptised (including infant baptisms) rose last year to 138,715 from 135,379 the previous year.

With 1,276,634 members, the Archdiocese of Seoul was the largest in the country, followed by Suwon (622,614), Daegu (410,099) and Pusan (385,294).

The male-to-female ratio was 4:6 (41.4 per cent to 58.6 per cent), far from the almost even national ratio (50.2 per cent to 49.8 per cent).

Over a quarter (28.1 per cent) regularly attended Sunday Mass, whilst the proportion of those who confessed during Advent and Lent was 24.1 per cent

The proportion of apathetic Catholics rose from 35.7 per cent to 36 per cent.

All this points to the need for urgent steps to renew Catholics' faith and re-evangelise them; it also underscores the necessity of re-examining the Church's pastoral strategies.

With more than half (51.3 per cent) of all Catholics living in seven big cities, South Korean bishops will have to respond to the growing urbanisation of the Catholic community and promote exchanges between the cities and rural areas.

In early 2004, Korea Gallup released the results of a national survey on religion and religious consciousness conducted among 1,500 adult men and women.

The study showed that 71.1 per cent of Protestants went to mass at least once a week compared to only 42.9 per cent for Catholics. Protestants were also more likely to pray at least once a day—59.3 per cent against 27.8 per cent among Catholics.

However, compared to other religions, the Catholic Church had the highest rate of conversion from other religions and the lowest rate of conversion to other religions.

The survey's margin of error was +/- 2.5 per cent. (TK) 

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