Empty Pews: Where Did All The Men Go? Gender Gap Threatens Churches' Future

Washington Post ^ | June 10, 2006 | Kristen Campbell and Adelle M. Banks

[ears_to_hear]

Women run the homes, decide the children's schools, and usually pick the church that the husband has to go to.

Why then would there be a surprise that women also run the churches?

[AlbionGirl]

It's really difficult to convey nuances from one language to another.

That's true. One has to have near equal expertise in each language, and the dexterity of mind to find equivalents. People of different cultures and backgrounds come to many of the same conclusions about life, etc., and finding the same turn of mind, as expressed in each language is the way translations work the best.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Prayers for good health, Corin, and righteous leadership. God put the right man in the job. 8~)

[Loyalist]

St. Paul did not speak idly when he bade women be silent in church.

The feminization of the Catholic sanctuary has contributed significantly to the decline of priestly vocations and the homosexualization of the priesthood.

A Novus Ordo presbyter usually just sits there for much of the Mass like a brooding, henpecked husband while the ladies fuss around the kitchen table, as opposed to the pre-conciliar priest, who leads the people before the altar of God.

Try convincing boys at most conciliar parishes that the priestly vocation is worthy or manly. What they see every week at Mass tells them otherwise.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Funny, but I don't believe it for one second. 8~)

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Women run the homes, decide the children's schools, and usually pick the church that the husband has to go to. Why then would there be a surprise that women also run the churches?

A sad surprise that will continue to facilitate the deconstruction of the church and society.

[blue-duncan]

"Funny, but I don't believe it for one second."

I didn't want to believe it either, but K said I'd better!

[jude24]

Were the translators of the Geneva Bible part of this malevolent conspiracy?

"And I will pray the Father, and he [s]hal[l] gi[v]e you another Co[m]forter, that he may abide with you for e[v]er." - John xiv.16, Geneva Bible

[Campion]

It's only because the church is being subverted by the passivity and feminization found most often in the RC church

If it rains on your picnic, do you blame the Romanists for it?

Really, your tendency to point the finger at Rome for everything is tiresome and a pitifully bad Christian witness.

I would say the same thing about a Catholic who blamed everything bad on the Protestants, except that I've never met one.

[Campion]

Were the translators of the Geneva Bible

Devilish Jesuits ... they're everywhere, I tell you ... !!

[Dr. Eckleburg]

If it rains on your picnic, do you blame the Romanists for it?

Nope. But I blame them for the bugs. 8~)

[jude24]

Really, your tendency to point the finger at Rome for everything is tiresome and a pitifully bad Christian witness.

Actually, I would call that a paranoid personality disorder.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Any organization which has elevated Mary to co-redemptrix has subjugated Scriptural truth to a feminized gender expediency.

Which is exactly the point of this thread.

Read "The Cult of the Virgin Mary: Psychological Origins" by Michael P. Carroll.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

I like Rembrandt.

[murphE]

Any organization which has elevated Mary to co-redemptrix has subjugated Scriptural truth to a feminized gender expediency.

Boy are you way off here. Not only do you not know Catholic doctrine, which you should at least attempt to do before making sweeping statements about it, it is the Traditional Roman Catholic chapels, (where traditional Roman Catholic doctrine is preached, believed and practiced,) that are overflowing with men. The Catholic parishes that have become feminized are the ones that reject traditional Catholic doctrine.

Our Blessed Mother is the antithesis to feminism, and it is through the rejection of true devotion to her that feminism flourishes.

[Rytwyng]

Any organization which has elevated Mary to co-redemptrix has subjugated Scriptural truth to a feminized gender expediency.

To be fair to the Catholics, at least one Catholic author has touched this issue, in a way. Only he thinks that it wasn't expediency but the inevitable result of a feminized priesthood that relates more to their mothers than their fathers, and therefore more to Mary than to a masculine leader (Father, Son). Read the book I linked above or google "Leon Podles" and read some of his net posted articles on this topic.

[murphE]

Hey! How are you? =D

[phatus maximus]

Amen...my church has about a 50/50 congregation...

[RobbyS]

We had a meeting about the building of a new church. The building committee and most of the audience participants were men. Ome woman had some good points. The other just whined.

[Rytwyng]

Traditional Roman Catholic chapels...are overflowing with men. The Catholic parishes that have become feminized are the ones that reject traditional Catholic doctrine.

Ditto for Protestants. The more Bible-centered they are, the more men show up. But the "love song" worship needs to be changed to something with gravitas -- ancient chants, classic 19th century hymns, heavy metal, rap -- ANYTHING but the "Jesus baby baby" stuff we have now.

BTW an analysis of the Aramaic new testament reveals that a lot of Jesus' speeches and teachings rhymed in the original. Was he in fact a rapper?