Athée Canadien
Catholic Church struggles to survive
By Zak
London area churches are facing problems.
“We cannot continue operating as we are now — we must make strategic changes,” Bishop Ronald Fabbro said Thursday.
The diocese released a 65-page report that found only 14% of the 450,000 Roman Catholics in the diocese attend weekend mass, down 3.5% in the last three years.
Other report highlights, and Fabbro’s reaction:
Downward trends: Marriages, baptisms, first communions and confirmations are down, marriages the most. They fell to 967 in 2009, from 2,800 in 1975, down 65.5% .
Fabro on the overall report: “What I found hard was when you looked at all the graphs, they are all going down.”
I’d like to see if those registered still consider themselves Catholic even though they don’t go to church or follow any of the rules. The new census will let us know once it’s released. In the meantime, I look forward to the Church’s plans to stop its plummeting popularity. Is there anything they can do to increase followers that won’t drive more people away?
Beefing up their online presence won’t work unless they can shelter believers from people like us and ordaining women will only drive away traditionalists. Can churches do anything to maintain their relevancy? Maybe we’ve already won.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Zak on September 21, 2011 at 2:58 pm, and is filed under Religion. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |
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about 8 months ago
I didn’t see it mentioned anywhere but in case anyone is wondering, Bishop Ronald Fabbro is the Roman Catholic Bishop of London, Ontario.
about 7 months ago
I’m definitely not surprised that having the rites performed is going down. The RC is attempting to strong arm adherents into attendence. This past year he was going through his confirmation and they made them jump through hoops to get it done. If it wasn’t for my parents I’m sure my sister wouldn’t have bothered. It was way too much trouble for her. When my nephew’s was born the y had no problem allowing me to be his “God Father” at his baptism. Now because I am not a practicing RC member they wouldn’t allow me to be his God father anymore. Funny they allowed it at his baptism, my nieces baptism and her confirmation. I was already an Atheist for years before any of those events take place. I think the church is runing scared. They better make some strategic moves. If they hold on to this belief that an iron grip is the best way to ensure themeselves a future they are going to push more people away.
about 7 months ago
Sorry… the “he was going through” should read my nephew was going through. Changed a sentence around and missed that one.