Here’s a WSJ article about Europe’s empty churches, and the efforts to repurpose them, and the fact that even non-churchgoers feel a loss when the village church is gone.
What to do?
I linked the other day to an article on Catholics in Chicago, and the declining membership, especially if you strip out the newcomers. What to do? No big solutions, though I have to say that the new archbishop really ought to be pragmatic and make some efforts to minister and reach out to his middle-class constituents (or former constituents) rather than the newcomers who are, let’s face it, placing bodies in pews but not much of a long-term solution. (Even more pragmatically, the church leadership would do well to pay some attention to the middle-class who are the ones who support them financially — unless they figure that catering to the wealthy, deep-pocket donors is good enough.)
This particular WSJ article repeats the conventional wisdom that the U.S. is not far behind Europe and, given another generation or two, will see similar church closings. Of course, we are already seeing church closings, as new denominations gain popularity in a given area. But the WSJ is speaking of a net decline in churches.
And everyone simply treats it as a matter of fact: modernity and wealth brings secularism, but for inexplicable reasons, the U.S. is “behind” Europe. So one of these days, I’d like to dig into this a little further. In the meantime, as always, reader opinions are welcomed!
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