At least in this more secular part of Europe, there seems to be a trend to move back towards the Church...
"..slowly but surely, the St Mary’s congregation seems to be swelling. Over the last 12 months, attendance at the main Sunday service at the church (where my wife Martine is curate) has risen by nearly 20 per cent, from around 95 to 115. Though much of this is down to Harvey’s hard work and charisma, the growing popularity of St Mary’s is part of a much wider and very striking phenomenon.
Church attendances, in freefall for so long, have started to rise again, particularly in Britain’s capital city. Numbers on the electoral rolls are increasing by well over two per cent every year, while some churches have seen truly dramatic rises in numbers.
Change is afoot. For many years it was accepted that Christianity was all but dead, an anachronistic relic of the past whose foundations had been destroyed by modern science and rationalism, before being left behind by the cultural and sexual revolution of the Sixties. The figures seem to bear this out."
Church attendances, in freefall for so long, have started to rise again, particularly in Britain’s capital city. Numbers on the electoral rolls are increasing by well over two per cent every year, while some churches have seen truly dramatic rises in numbers.
Change is afoot. For many years it was accepted that Christianity was all but dead, an anachronistic relic of the past whose foundations had been destroyed by modern science and rationalism, before being left behind by the cultural and sexual revolution of the Sixties. The figures seem to bear this out."
And thank goodness for that. Its sad that one of the premier nations in all of Christendom had to abandon the faith that sustained her for all those years only to begin realizing that secularism is so cold and empty and at least the Church offers hope.
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Once I commented to a pastor friend about spiritual life in Italy, that those of my generation in Italy are generally skeptics or atheists, but faith is alive among the younger and the older generations. He observed, quite accurately I think, that atheism tends to thrive for only a generation or so. Then reality sets in. (Or God intervenes.)
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