Posted on 01/13/2020 7:11:07 PM PST by marshmallow
Churches appear to be less indispensable to small communities than they themselves are inclined to think. The Dutch Catholic weekly Katholiek Nieuwsblad reached that conclusion after long-term research into the effects of church closure on village communities.
The research of the Dutch Catholic weekly shows, among other things, that the pace at which churches are disappearing from the countryside will only increase in the coming years. It often results in painful closures or mergers, but the local village communities also seem to recover surprisingly quickly.
The various social functions of the parishes are often taken over by local social organizations without much ado, according to Katholiek Nieuwsblad. What has also became clear is that very few parishioners decide to attend Mass in another church after theirs has been closed.
Uncomfortable conclusion’
The newspaper’s editor-in-chief Anton de Wit speaks of “a rather uncomfortable conclusion” for the community of faithful: “The village in 2020 can do very well without a church.”
In the first year of the research editors of the magazine spoke with dozens of scientists, policymakers and experts in the matter.
(Excerpt) Read more at cruxnow.com ...
Quite true. The Divine Liturgy (the mass) is the Repentence, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
The High Priest at each mass is present in the Host - that is Jesus Christ.
His ministrants are flawed humans, like us all. Whether he can preach or not, whatever he is, the priest is ultimately the assistant.
The Key focus is Jesus Christ, who is present there, at each mass.
As an aside - I’ve found it amazing how the mass parallels the structure of the book of the Apocalypse of St John:
The book of the Apocalypse has the Penitence - chapters 2 and 3, the Gloria, the Alleluia, the Holy, Holy, Holy, the readings, the Eucharist (rev 12-22) where the Church is united to Christ.
And of course, it all starts with St. John talking of their gathering on the Lord’s Day
As with all labels of differentiation, evangelical (as re. the modern movement) became broader as time went on, and originally is was synonymous with fundamentalist. For is began as a result of regenerated believers who highly esteemed Scripture as their sure supreme standard, and we unified in and committed to core thus fundamentals. And arose (early 20th c.) in reaction liberal theological revisionism. And likewise they arose as a political force in the 70's, and tend to vote around 80% for the conservative poetical candidate for President.
But pollsters tend to class respondents as evangelical if they affirm they had some sort of born again experience by which one entered into a “personal relationship” with Jesus Christ.
The numbers of 75% voting for Republicans is better drilled down with number of regular attendees - and to which whatever the religious flavor - increased attendance leads to GOP voting on average
Nope. Popes come and go being Catholic is a gift to cherish. Only a small percentage ever get the gift of being Catholic from God. Unfortunately for the rest, it’s searching for God that can never be found.
Yes, I agree with you
GK Chesterton put it perfectly well describing how the Church under God's grace never veers to the extremes - like the Christian scientists vs the Quakers and other such extremes
The up to 80% is white evangelicals in general, and regular attendees=even more conservative. The only level of that detail as regards voting that I have is,
Exit polls in 2008 reported that weekly churchgoing Catholics voted for John McCain over Barack Obama, by just 50 percent to 49 percent. Weekly Protestant church attendees voted for McCain over Barack Obama 66 to 32 percent. http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/churchgoing_catholics_chose_mccain_over_obama/
In the 2012 election (preliminary exit-poll analysis), white Evangelicals (23% of the electorate) voted 79%/20% Romney/Obama; Protestants overall (53% of the electorate) voted 57%/42%; black Protestants (9% of the electorate) and other Christian voted 5%/95%; Catholics overall (25% of the electorate) voted 48%/50%; white Catholics (18% of the electorate) voted 59%/40%; and Hispanic Catholics (5% of the electorate) voted 21%/75% Romney/Obama http://www.pewforum.org/Politics-and-Elections/How-the-Faithful-Voted-2012-Preliminary-Exit-Poll-Analysis.aspx
Weekly Church attendees (28% of the electorate) voted 57%/39% Romney/Obama; more than weekly (14% of the electorate) voted 63%/36% and “never” attendees (17% of the electorate) were at 34%/62% Romney/Obama. ^
Many churches - and this is true of Baptist churches as well - are just social clubs for the religous-minded. My Baptist pastor would say the same thing. Churches too often become social clubs instead of the Body of Christ.
And a social club can be easily replaced.
The newspaper’s editor-in-chief Anton de Wit speaks of “a rather uncomfortable conclusion” for the community of faithful: “The village in 2020 can do very well without a church.”
Stop and think, what exactly is bringing people together at a church? I once belonged to a Toastmasters Club that met at 6:30 on a Saturday Morning and we had to turn people away. We had a very clear reason for being there at that hour and all members knew what it was.
Ask people why they go to church and listen with a keen ear.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/Club
Origination of word club. “I have a good miond to join a club and beat you over the head with it”, makes sense.................
I don't see it any other way. A true church is a society. Leaving a church is choosing a different principle of association (e.g., commiseration at the local bar). The Body of Christ is a specific social group, or else you could exercise your belief by yourself.
“why people leave the Baptist, independent and SBC”
IIRC, it is because their church doesn’t affect them any more than any other social club. I’m SBC, BTW, although I’d prefer it if your congregation went independent.
I’ve also moved a lot and lived in places where we struggled to find ANY church worth going to. There were time we wondered why. Never ever stopped believing in Jesus, but we lived some places where we couldn’t find a church that really seemed interested in anything beyond keeping pews filled. By any business means necessary.
You make a club sound bad.
Should have written “our congregation”, not “your congregation”. Still working on my first cup of coffee.
- There are no significant social implications of church closures in rural municipalities; other organizations take over the different tasks of the parish.
“Second, we have to recognize that SBC trends looked great when our neighbors gained social capital by joining our churches. They gained social status and trust within the community by joining the First Baptist Church or another evangelical congregation. That is no longer the case. Now, given secularization and the sexual and moral revolutions utterly reshaping our culture, our neighbors may well lose social capital by joining our churches. The age of cultural or nominal Christianity is fast coming to a close....
The second observation that would quickly come is that our methods of evangelism are not as effective as they once were. Honestly, that argument is beyond refute. Southern Baptist growth was largely driven by revivalism and its programs. We should not be surprised that revivalism is most effective in a context of Christian cultural dominance....
Fourth, we have to wonder if Southern Baptists still believe that people who do not know Christ are headed for hell. I have no doubt that most SBC church members would answer that question rightly, but this does not mean that they believe it fervently. We should be concerned that a form of religion rightly described by Christian Smith as “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” [MTD] is now what is actually believed by many who consider themselves faithful Southern Baptists.....
For many children growing up with Christian parents, the priority of the family is told otherwise. Many Christian parents have bought into the larger culture’s portrait of the good childhood, complete with incessant sports activities, violin and ballet lessons, and activities perceived to boost a child’s eventual college admissions application.....”
“We should be concerned that a form of religion rightly described by Christian Smith as “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” [MTD] is now what is actually believed by many who consider themselves faithful Southern Baptists.....”
To put this in perspective, the immigration problem is a problem because they don't integrate. Whether the principle of association is ethnic or religious I'll leave to you to debate with someone else. It is sobering enough to see that those who do not leave the mosques are more devout than ever.
Then Rome continues to teach a lie; for the Book it assembled, so long ago, states:
You shall seek me, and shall find me: when you shall seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13 Douay-Rheims Bible
WAY before your precious RCC was ever thought about.
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