A WARNING has been sounded by the Catholic
Bishop of Shrewsbury that Christians may soon
become “strangers in our own land”.
Bishop Mark Davies
The Rt Rev Mark Davies was delivering his grim
message to more than 1,000 young Catholics, aged
between 16 and 30, at a five-day prayer-fest in
Norfolk. He urged them to make a “clear stand” for
their faith after recent Government data which
suggest Christians living in Britain will soon become
a minority.
The bishop told his audience that the results of the
last census suggested most Britons would not
describe themselves as Christians by 2020. A recent
think-tank warned that 4,000 churches could close
by 2020 if congregations continue to shrink at
current rates.
Bishop Davies said:
With more than three million in Rio last month
and with more than a thousand in Walsingham
this weekend, we might not really feel like a
minority but that is what Christians are about to
become in this country of ours.
By 2020, if the analysis of the recent census is to
be believed, most people in this land will no
longer identify themselves in any way as
Christians.
It’s a situation you already know well as young
people of 21st century Britain – a situation which
will surely demand of new generations of
Catholics a clear stand, an inspirational lead and,
as the Gospel reminds us today, a human
struggle.
Davies has been one of the most outspoken critics of
the Government’s plans to legalise gay marriage and
used an Easter address to criticise the proposals.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Church in France also
appears to be on its last legs. According to this
recent report, more than one-third (35 percent) of
France’s overll population and almost two-thirds (63
percent) of youth said they belonged to “no religion”
and very few people, just an estimated one in 20,
regularly attend Mass.
Innocent Fuegna
Father Innocent Feugna, an African deacon who
works at St Pierre de Guise in northern France,
complained that his congregation in aging and dying
out. He lamented:
Here I’m preaching to pensioners. In Cameroon,
[the Catholic] Mass is animated, it’s alive – here
services are still flat and cold. In Cameroon, the
churches are full. We’ve got children. We’ve got
adults, all ages. It’s completely different from
France.
Not only are France’s church-goers aging, so are
church officials – the average priest in the country is
now 75, forcing the importation of foreigners to
conduct religious services.
Feugna added:
Young people [in France] have different
aspirations. Their interests lie elsewhere. The
Church perhaps doesn’t have the right message
for young people here.
Commented Douglas Yates, assistant professor of
political science at the American University of Paris
and professor at the American Graduate School in
Paris:
As the priests in France get older, they are being
replaced by Africans, particularly in rural areas, a
phenomenon that draws not a little attention in
the mass media. If the trend continues, the
Catholic church will become a minority religion.
Already it is eye-to-eye with agnostic and
atheists. Modern France is a secular society.
And all the better for it too!
freethinker.co.uk/2013/08/28/christianity-is-dying-in-england-and-in-france-catholic-priests-are-only-preaching-to-pensioners/

meanwhile in Africa

musKeeto: Booked.

smh...smiling

Allohrandy: meanwhile in Africa

It has reached its zenith.

From now it is downhill all the way