Brazil has a Catholic ‘data center.’ Why the US probably won’t

The Brazilian bishops’ conference last week approved the creation of a national data center, which will aim to make information sharing between the country’s dioceses easier, while making available to both Church officials and the public information about the status of the nation’s clerics.

While clerics and Church leaders in the U.S. have called for a similar system to make ministry easier, a system similar to Brazil’s Catholic Church Data Center is not likely to be established soon in the United States, despite available technology and widespread calls for changes to current systems of information sharing on clerics.

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When the bishops of Brazil met in their plenary assembly last week, the decision which made the most headlines locally was the approval of new guidelines for evangelization in the country. Those guidelines challenged Brazilians to take up the work of the Great Commission in the face of declining Catholic identity in the country, where Protestants are projected to outnumber Catholics by 2030, and a growing number of people say they have no religion at all.

Brazilian bishops have called Catholics to greater participation in the life of the Church, and urged Catholics to see the country’s upcoming 2027 Eucharistic congress as a moment of