Posted on 04/06/2013 3:19:57 PM PDT by NYer
It may not be the reason you think.
The Rev. Stephen Fichter understood just how dominant a role sports has assumed in the culture when a family told him they would be out of town Good Friday to Easter Sunday to attend their child’s volleyball tournament.
“It’s truly sports that has become like the religion” for many people, said Fichter, a researcher and the pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Haworth, N.J.
From youth travel teams to big-time national festivals such as the Final Four, sports have been making increasing inroads in the busy lives of many Americans. Some scholars even trace the evolution of sports from pastime to a form of civil religion to now having become almost a folk religion.
And it is having an impact on religious groups, which report increasing difficulty convincing families that are willing to spend half a day traveling to a 9-year-old’s softball or soccer game to make time for worship services.
Some congregations are meeting the challenge by offering alternative service times and their own sports teams and programs. But many despair of their ability to compete in a culture increasingly consumed by athletics, with its multi-million dollar idols and its own sacred relics. Witness the Babe Ruth jersey that sold last year for $4.4 million.
In a study of 16 declining congregations in the U.S. and Canada, the reason most cited by clergy and members for falling attendance was the secularization of Sunday, with many identifying children’s sports as most responsible. Researcher Stephen McMullin of Acadia Divinity College in Nova Scotia reported the findings in the current issue of the Review of Religious Research.
“(Parents) will make sure Johnny goes to sports, but when it comes to church, I’ve just seen it over and over again, and even in our own congregation, the families that have children in sport will sacrifice church for the sake of their son or daughter’s sports program, so sports is another huge reason why our church is declining,” one pastor said.
There were few Easter Christians, individuals who show up for worship one or two days a year, among the earliest followers of the faith.
Facing penalties “like hanging — that tends to clear the head,” the Rev. Aidan Kavanagh, the late liturgy professor at Yale Divinity School, dryly observed.
Christians in the United States no longer need fear persecution for missing services. Demanding schedules, many of which revolve around youth sports, are the new competition for congregations.
Fichter surveyed 341 Catholics in one congregation who reported attending only on Easter and Christmas. He said he thought many people would cite disagreement with church teachings or negative experiences. But only 7 percent of respondents gave either of those reasons.
More than two-thirds said the reason they attend only twice a year was that they were too busy with other commitments. Sixteen percent admitted they were lazy. Fichter reported the findings at the joint annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and the Religious Research Association.
Maybe it’s the never ending scandals involving the church and it’s leaders, no matter what denomination you may be talking about..........
The article, “How come more people don’t go to church?” cited several reason and I cited two of my own.
God’s removal from public school and the opening of stores on Sunday and the invention of shopping malls.
When I was growing up, department stores were closed. Sunday was a day of worship, a day of rest, a day for family.
You want to take issue with me on and my upbringing and I think you’re way out of line. I think I gave you a very good clue on my religion - St. John’s parish.
Good day, NYer.
We don’t do Anything that requires Sunday commitment. Not anything ever; so it is very strange to us.
I once got flamed for saying it, but I just can’t get into the current practice of taking “refreshments” into a church service. I’m there to worship God....coffee can wait.
But that’s me...
I go to a Mass that has none of the above. It’s across town. If we go the sing around the campfire Mass, I just pay attention to the real purpose, but I get cranky. I will not turn around after consecration I don’t sing the awful songs and I do not hold hands.
It doesn’t bother me in the least.
The preacher is the most important thing. Find one that understands and can communicate the gospel clearly. If it is repetitive go to a different church. Go to a different one every week if you have to until you find one with a preacher that gets it done.
The NFL and other sport activities on TV is the new church people now attend. Cable TV is the altar of this church. The people bow down and worship every Sunday in front of it and all during the week too.
We’re here for a hundred years. eternity as a lot longer than that.
I just think of the story of the great confessor, Padre Pio, now sainted. They say he could see into people’s souls, that he sometimes knew their sins without their having told him. A woman went to confession with him and he jumped and said, “your children are all in hell and it’s your fault”.
I don’t know, it just seems to be something more important than the usual, ah, it’s okay, church is boring.
Anyway, kids are very interested in the eternal, very interested in the truth.
At the march for life, for instance, the crowd grows every year. 400,000 last year 500,000 this year. Average age 22 or something. These kids reject the crap the baby boomers are laying on this country.
When I was chosen to teach a class and read up on what to teach, I read something that I knew in 2nd grade but had forgotten, yetI’ll be judged on it because I know it, I learned it. it was that it is a mortal sin to miss mass on sunday without a good reason(a reason God would think was a good reason).
so, we go every week for the past eighteen years after that. Boredom, rain sleet snow hypocrisy of human priests, bad music,, holding hands, none of it matters, because eternity is not to be fooled with.
I agree with you.
Also, most women work even if they are married. Saturdays are often for children’s activities and Sunday ends up being housekeeping day.
The angels are sitting right next to you. You’re never alone.
I concur.
Well, on weekdays, it’s 6:30 am. On Sundays, it’s 7:00 am.
We have a 0730 Mass. No nonsense, just Mass. That’s where the single men go.
I know of more than one person who has stopped going to church or swtiched because their church supports illegal aliens and/or bringing in 3rd world types who will not contribute anything to this country.
Not required or desired if participation would lead to a weakening of your faith (and outright hostility at the contemporary church). Been there, done that, only Tridentine Mass for me now when available.
I don’t know. I can’t figure out what part of “keep Holy the Lord’s day, and do no unnecessary work, at the risk of mortal sin” is confusing.
Editing and reinterpretation of the Catechism is something I never do. Never.
When I was a child I was told that it was a mortal sin to miss mass. When I became an adult I knew that God wouldn't let me burn in hell forever for such a minor lapse.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.