Why does Australia have such a large Roman Catholic population?

Answer 1

A:One reason for the large number of Catholics in Australia is that many of theearly convicts were Catholic Irishmen who, while not having committed any crimes in the ordinary sense, were willing to rebel over English control of Ireland.

In the second half of the twentieth century, Australia began to attract a large number of migrants from predominantly Catholic countries such as Italy, as well as from largely Protestant traditional sources such as England and Scotland. After the end of the Vietnam War, Australia welcomed South Vietnamese, many of whom were Catholics unlike the mainly Buddhist northerners. In more recent times, Australia has also attracted large numbers of Muslims and Buddhists.

While increasing numbers of Protestant Australians are leaving the faith, Catholics have so far tended to remain at least nominal Catholics. This is particularly true of recent immigrants, who tend to identify according to their religious backgrounds. As a result of successive waves of Catholic immigrants and the relative tendency of Catholics to continue to identify as Christian, the Roman Catholic Church is now the largest religious denomination in Australia.