A day of judgment for liberal bishops

Telegraph ^ | October 12, 2012 | Damian Thompson

[NYer]

The strangest thing happened last week, though few people noticed it. America officially ceased to be a Protestant country. According to the Pew Forum, the percentage of Protestants has dropped to 48 per cent, down from 53 per cent in 2007. That’s a huge shift.

But, before Catholics start punching the air, let me point out that the percentage of Catholics has been flatlining for years at 22 per cent. The big jump is in unaffiliated Americans, including atheists – up from 15 to 20 per cent. These “Nones”, as pollsters call them, are laying waste to the religious landscape of the United States. And Britain.

Here’s the question that intrigues me. Once the old, routine churchgoers have died off, and now that “None” is the default position for liberal-minded young people, what will the churches of the future look like?

We’re beginning to find out. More to the point, the clapped-out Anglican and Catholic bishops of the English-speaking world are finding out, too – and it’s giving them nightmares.

Those youngsters who once went to church out of obligation are now spending Sunday mornings in the supermarket or the gym (body worship is a flourishing faith). That means that the only young people in the pews are true believers who really want to be there.

If you’re a “go-ahead” bishop, vicar or diocesan bureaucrat, this is a scary development. You’ve spent your career reducing the hard truths of Christ’s teaching – such as the inevitability of the Last Judgment – to carbon-neutral platitudes. Suddenly, the 20-year-olds in your flock are saying: no thanks, we’ll take the hard truths. Eek!

In the Church of England, young evangelicals are embarrassed by the thespian agonising of Rowan Williams, the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury. If there’d been a hand-wringing event at the Olympics, he’d have shattered all records.

[NYer]

In the Roman Catholic Church of England and Wales, the disconnect is even more stark. Young Catholics take their cue from the traditionalist Pope Benedict XVI, rather than from dreary bishops who only occasionally wake from their slumber to mumble something about renewable energy. (Remember Jack in Father Ted? You get the picture.)

A fascinating contrast that many of us are witnessing here in the US.

[rcofdayton]

There are still some liberal Catholic bishops, but not many. We still need to pressure them on ex-communicating abortion supporters and abandoning socialism.

[MondoQueen]

I find that most Bishops are too timid to fight back against the members who want a watered-down church, and they are too quick to believe the lies of the Democrat politicians who tell them that “social justice” is good, when they don’t know that it is a come-on from Marxists. I have opted out of the
vatican II church and I am a member of a Latin Mass Church that isn’t afraid to say they are pro-life, and against gay marriage. We have an organ only, and Gregorian Chant, and no one walks out before the final hymn.

[count-your-change]

The decline in the number of priests, both in actual numbers and percentage, should give Catholics pause...Who is going to lead the increasing numbers of parishioners?

[Biggirl]

The pressure has begun this year along with the “HHS” Obamacare mandate(s) which served as a much needed wake-up call to these liberal bishops.