“A sum can be put right: but only by going back till you find the error and working it afresh from that point, never by simply going on.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
The western church, including that of Australia is lamenting the significant fall in the number of faithful attending church services. This has indeed a knock on effect on the money that fills the coffers and services the church can continue to provide. Another unfortunate outcome is the dwindling number of vocations to the priesthood and religious orders.
The following is some data of how the proportion of catholics have changed over the last century. It is clearly evident that Europe, once the stronghold of catholicism, now faces rapid decline.
Further data compares the number of catholics as a share of the resident population. This appears more meaningful as population world over has been growing and moving.
The church in Australia is particularly concerned, with some of its parishes taking the unprecedented step of opting to run in a federated manner with a clubbing together of priests and other resources.
It is very easy to put the blame on the sexual abuse scandals but in actual fact this trend started a while back. People move away and out of a church or faith when the church/faith and what it stands for looses relevance in their day to day life. What is irrelevant soon becomes redundant.
A wholistic scientific method needs to be applied to understand this issue.
The western church, including that of Australia is lamenting the significant fall in the number of faithful attending church services. This has indeed a knock on effect on the money that fills the coffers and services the church can continue to provide. Another unfortunate outcome is the dwindling number of vocations to the priesthood and religious orders.
The following is some data of how the proportion of catholics have changed over the last century. It is clearly evident that Europe, once the stronghold of catholicism, now faces rapid decline.
Further data compares the number of catholics as a share of the resident population. This appears more meaningful as population world over has been growing and moving.
The church in Australia is particularly concerned, with some of its parishes taking the unprecedented step of opting to run in a federated manner with a clubbing together of priests and other resources.
It is very easy to put the blame on the sexual abuse scandals but in actual fact this trend started a while back. People move away and out of a church or faith when the church/faith and what it stands for looses relevance in their day to day life. What is irrelevant soon becomes redundant.
A wholistic scientific method needs to be applied to understand this issue.
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