Parking a link: the empty churches of Europe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"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\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parking a link: the empty churches of Europe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-03T22:56:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-10-13T13:53:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe.html\",\"name\":\"Parking a link: the empty churches of Europe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-03T22:56:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-13T13:53:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"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\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Parking a link: the empty churches of Europe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Parking a link: the empty churches of Europe","description":"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","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Parking a link: the empty churches of Europe","og_description":"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","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2015-01-03T22:56:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-10-13T13:53:02+00:00","author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe.html","name":"Parking a link: the empty churches of Europe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-01-03T22:56:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-13T13:53:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"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","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Parking a link: the empty churches of Europe"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":128,"date":"2015-01-03T16:56:00","date_gmt":"2015-01-03T22:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe.html"},"modified":"2016-10-13T07:53:02","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T13:53:02","slug":"parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/parking-a-link-the-empty-churches-of-europe.html","title":{"rendered":"Parking a link: the empty churches of Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Here\u2019s a WSJ article <\/a>about Europe\u2019s empty churches, and the efforts to repurpose them, and the fact that even non-churchgoers feel a loss when the village church is gone. <\/p>\n

What to do?<\/p>\n

I linked the other day <\/a>to an article on Catholics in Chicago, and the declining membership, especially if you strip out the newcomers. \u00a0What to do? \u00a0No 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\u2019s face it, placing bodies in pews but not much of a long-term solution. \u00a0(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 \u2014 unless they figure that catering to the wealthy, deep-pocket donors is good enough.)<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0Of course, we are already seeing church closings, as new denominations gain popularity in a given area. \u00a0But the WSJ is speaking of a net decline in churches. <\/p>\n

And everyone simply treats it as a matter of fact: \u00a0modernity and wealth brings secularism, but for inexplicable reasons, the U.S. is \u201cbehind\u201d Europe. \u00a0So one of these days, I\u2019d like to dig into this a little further. \u00a0In the meantime, as always, reader opinions are welcomed!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"