[ebb tide]

Why not be honest? The faithful have a right to know the real situation. And by the way, we know it anyway.

[BlessedBeGod]

In other areas—the US is one—some congregations are booming, even while others sink toward extinction.

The ones that are booming are orthodox; the ones that are becoming extinct (thank God!) are heterodox.

[onedoug]

Religious life seems to suit these guys. They sure make fine fruitcakes...even for those that don't like them.

Assumption Abbey

[The Grammarian]

Is it necessarily a bad thing for religious to shrink and decline? I mean, it’s not like holiness and contact with God isn’t available outside of a monastery or convent, or that the Church herself was shrinking (though in some sectors and communions, it is).

[SuziQ]

I guess they figure the aging flakes in the liberal religious communities won’t be around much longer anyway, so why bother with them?