Chris Strudelsberg

For the first time in American history, a generation has emerged where Catholics outnumber Protestants. New analysis from the 2023 Cooperative Election Study (CES) highlights a significant demographic crossover within Generation Z: 21% identify as Catholic while 19% identify as Protestant The context behind the numbers: This shift isn’t driven by a sudden surge in Catholicism. In fact, the Catholic population has remained remarkably stable, hovering around 20% across all generations (with a recent increase in growth from online evangelization). Instead, the change is driven by a steep decline in Protestantism. For context, 48% of the Silent Generation identified as Protestant, a figure that has now dropped to just 19% among Gen Z.

Your Excellency, you shared with me through text message to me that my position reflects Catholic teaching, especially that the modern state of Israel is not the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. That is the position I expressed, and yet I was removed from the Religious Liberty Commission. Respectfully, it is difficult not to conclude that this commission does not truly care about religious liberty when a Catholic can be removed for faithfully articulating the Church’s teaching. Asking me to deny Catholic teaching in order to satisfy a political ideology is itself a violation of my religious freedom. As Pope Leo XIII warned, “To recoil before an enemy, or to keep silence when from all sides such clamor is raised against truth, is the part of a coward.” Whether I serve on this Commission or not, my voice will only grow louder for those being persecuted for their faith. I believe this appointment was ordained by God, and I will not abandon my Catholic faith to keep a position on a commission that has abandoned its mission. If my religious freedom is not protected, then no one’s is. Please speak up. Please stand up for Catholics. Be brave, Bishop Barron. The world needs brave men.