I don't know how many of you are familiar with Catholic-Hierarchy.Org, but it is an amazing site run by a Catholic gentleman in Kansas City. It lists every Diocese and Bishop in the world, along with historical data and statistics. It is cited by Vatican Radio as a reference and is used by many institutions and writers. Zenit says that it provides a "silent, unique service to the Church".
As I was perusing it today, I found the statistics for what must be one of the smallest Dioceses in the world, the Vicariate Apostolic of St Pierre et Miquelon, two small islands that are only 16 miles from Canada, but are actually part of the Republic of France. The population of the Diocese which is around 6,000 souls is almost 100% Catholic, tho' it has dropped from a high of 99.9% in 2000 to 95.4% in 2014. There are only two Parishes, tho' for a bit from the late 1970s til the late 90s, there were three.
However, the interesting part is the collapse of certain statistics like number of Priests and Religious. In 1963, there were six Priests, all Religious (I would assume of the Holy Ghost Fathers, since all the Ordinaries since 1945 have been C.S.Sp.), along with twelve other male Religious, and in 1967 there were 17 female Religious, I assume teaching in the schools.
The last entry is for 2014. Still approaching 100% Catholic population with two Parishes, but with only two priests, both Religious. I assume that if the Bishop is resident, he is Pastor of one of the Parishes. And, there are only two female Religious left.
The Fruits of Vatican II are rotten!
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