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To: D-fendr

Obviously your not in the Boston area or over in Europe where grand cathedrals sit empty.


157 posted on 01/12/2007 1:39:54 AM PST by HarleyD ("...even the one whom He will choose, He will bring near Himself." Num 16:5)
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To: HarleyD

Don't think the Baptists are doin too good in Europe either.


160 posted on 01/12/2007 1:47:36 AM PST by D-fendr
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To: HarleyD
Obviously your not in the Boston area or over in Europe where grand cathedrals sit empty.

The Catholic Church's situation in the Northeast and Upper Midwest reflects the United States' demographic shift south, as well the move from the cities to the suburbs.

Europe is a mess.

166 posted on 01/12/2007 4:36:00 AM PST by Tax-chick ("I don't know you, but I love who you seem to be.")
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To: HarleyD; D-fendr

>> Obviously your not in the Boston area or over in Europe where grand cathedrals sit empty. <<

European Christianity, as a whole, whether Protestant or Catholic, is in dire straits. But the Catholic Church is far better off as of late than the Lutheran, Reformed, Presbyterian or Anglican churches. In nations such as Germany, for instance, the conservative parties (such as Christian Democrats) are successful largely in Catholic areas, and Catholic chuch attendance in many nations is quite respectable. In the UK, for instance, as many Catholics attend church each week as Anglicans, despite the 1:10 minority status.

Boston... well, we all know the troubles with Boston. I lived there.

P.S. Many of the grand European cathedrals were along pilgrim routes. Nimes, for instance, the grandest of European Cathedrals by many accounts, can hardly be expected to be filled with the small number of locals. When the Catholic Church shifted from monthly attendance to weekly obligation, parishes began to supplant dioceses (where Cathedrals exist) as the center of Catholic worship. And now, people fly directly to their destinations, rather than cathedral hopping along their way.


188 posted on 01/12/2007 6:47:04 AM PST by dangus (Pope calls Islam violent; Millions of Moslems demonstrate)
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To: HarleyD; dangus
Obviously your not in the Boston area... where grand cathedrals sit empty.

Demographics - including urban flight - have a lot more to do with the closing of Catholic parishes. Sitting in Buffalo, where cathedrals sit empty and parishes are consolidating, the reasons are not uniform. New churches are being constructed in the suburbs, and are closing in rural and urban areas.

Incidentally, that is the situation with most mainline Protestant churches, and evangelical churches. The ones in the city are struggling (although one local megachurch is trying to open an urban campus).

190 posted on 01/12/2007 6:56:10 AM PST by jude24
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