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Why do men stay away?
Christian Century ^ | October 20, 2011 | Thomas G. Long

Posted on 10/23/2011 6:23:05 PM PDT by hiho hiho

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To: buccaneer81

Our congregation made sure watches were set to 11:40 during football season. He made sure the sermon was wrapped up so everyone could get home for the game.

He said getting the men to service was a decent trade off for that.


21 posted on 10/23/2011 6:54:18 PM PDT by Hawk1976 (It is better to die in battle than it is to live as a slave.)
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To: hiho hiho
Really? The feminine erosion of the church? As David Foster Wallace said in a different context, this is an idea "so stupid it practically drools."

No refutation, just invective. I don't know if I'd point fingers at women in particular, but the concept is sound. Until I got off my butt and actually read the Bible, I bought the lie of the touchy-feely Jesus as described in this article. When you read the Gospels, he's anything but touchy-feely. He's an extremely intelligent, very judgmental, argumentative guy who also happens to always be right (which really pisses off the Powers-That-Be).

That hippy, Bee-Gees look-alike is deathly dull. I like the guy I read about.

22 posted on 10/23/2011 6:58:34 PM PDT by Future Snake Eater (Don't stop. Keep moving!)
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To: hiho hiho
sick of "bourgeois, feel-good American Christianity

That about sums it up.

btw, what I find insulting is the notion that all men want to talk about is football.

23 posted on 10/23/2011 6:58:43 PM PDT by ichabod1 (Nuts; A house divided against itself cannot stand.)
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To: magritte

Vatican II and the feminization and egalitarianism of the Marxist “Gender hierarchy”....the stupid idea that there is no difference between men and women and they need to be treated exactly the same.

The idea of “girl” altar boys-—to make boys feel they are the same as girls. I could go on and on....it is Marxist ideology (progressive/feminism) that is destroying the patriarchy and family unit with the idea that men and women are the same design.....a scientific and stupid notion that is destroying Christianity...which is based on the patriarchy—and God the Father as strength and protector.

The nature of man is vastly different than the nature of women. The Christian churches are in denial and have tried to make men’s nature evil and obsolete and undermine the difference in women’s nature and the need for women to nurture and educate the next generation. All for marxist political correctness and to be “hip” and popular. Homosexual movement culminates in making men and women interchangeable—exactly as the Communist Manifesto wants.....The church adopted vulgar music and language and faddish kumbaya—feminism/earth worship/gaia cr*p. Return to traditional Latin and put some awe, respect, and mystery back into the church and elevate the position of the men and altar boys....no altar girls....it is ridiculous.


24 posted on 10/23/2011 7:00:32 PM PDT by savagesusie
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To: buccaneer81
In the American Catholic Church it started with Folk Masses.

Too funny! I was thinking the same thing before I read your post.

As a young child in the 1970's, I remember the hippies with their guitars and tamborines doing all the refrains at the Folk Mass. Even at the age of six, I remember disliking it and thinking to myself "there is something wrong here..."

25 posted on 10/23/2011 7:03:46 PM PDT by PGR88 (I'm so open-minded my brains fell out)
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To: Vermont Lt

You still need fellow believers for edification and correction.

Maybe you can form a fellowship with like-minded believers.


26 posted on 10/23/2011 7:04:19 PM PDT by Jonty30
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To: hiho hiho

Paragraphs 5 and 6 told me everything I need to know about this author, and this author’s agenda.

Game, set, match, trophy.

In 2 paragraphs.


27 posted on 10/23/2011 7:05:58 PM PDT by Don W (You can forget what you do for a living when your knees are in the breeze.)
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To: magritte

There are more and more Latin Masses in the Catholic Church these days. I have my choice of three churches in the Chicago area that offer the Latin Mass each Sunday, and one of these Churches actually offers nothing but Latin Masses. At these Masses they only have altar boys, not girls, and the parishioners do not freely stroll around the altar. We don’t hold hands at the Our Father, and we don’t walk around greeting people for five minutes. We kneel at the altar to receive communion on the tongue, which is handled only by the priest or deacon, and we hear Gregorian Chants at every Mass.


28 posted on 10/23/2011 7:07:44 PM PDT by MondoQueen
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To: PGR88

How the bishops were so clueless is beyond me. I have yet to find anyone from that era who actually liked those Masses.


29 posted on 10/23/2011 7:07:44 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: Future Snake Eater

Here is a point in reasoning.

If Jesus is our Creator and he created men to be men, it would seem Jesus Himself is not into wussy-touchy-feely men.


30 posted on 10/23/2011 7:08:10 PM PDT by Jonty30
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To: hiho hiho

The social justice message is driving us away.

Pray for America


31 posted on 10/23/2011 7:08:36 PM PDT by bray (Join the Cain Mutiny, tell the IRS 9-9-9!)
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To: magritte

LOL! Excellent description!


32 posted on 10/23/2011 7:09:15 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: Hawk1976

Smart, realistic pastor.


33 posted on 10/23/2011 7:11:15 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: reefdiver; kindred
Secularism, Agnosticism. Priest’s and Bishops have had an effect as well. There were more practicing people 100 years ago in the USof A and Europe than today. The Church grew almost 7000 % in Africa and the South Pacific in the same period of time.

Its just my observation but I seem to think as people in Western societies become more wealthy, or disposable income, they've grown away from God. My church has just come back from Africa and the people the visited lived in literally mud huts but their faith in God was strong.

34 posted on 10/23/2011 7:12:51 PM PDT by dragonblustar (Allah Ain't So Akbar!)
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To: ichabod1

I think the point about football is not football, but that men are going to focus on things that interest them when the things of church don’t interest them.


35 posted on 10/23/2011 7:12:51 PM PDT by Jonty30
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To: hiho hiho
Study after study has shown that many men who name themselves as Christian feel bored, alienated and disengaged from church. When we drag ourselves to church, researchers say, it is not for ourselves but to fulfill the obligations of our roles as son, husband, father or pastor.

The author has the answer, right in front of him, if he had the sense to read his own writing.

With the usual disclaimer of there being many exceptions: Men tend to be active. Women tend to be passive. Sitting in a pew listening to someone else talk, letting themselves be led by some arbitrarily appointed 'pastor', is perfectly suited to women. Not so much to men. Men seek purpose. In the real world and the world of work. Women seek nurturance. That's why so many develop crushes on their oh so unctuous and empathic pastors.

Men see their role as working hard in this world to support and take care of their families-- vocations for which the church has no respect. Any effort made to recognize the contributions of men boils down to lip service. Just be sure to make your pledge.

Bottom line, men don't go where they are not wanted, and let's be honest--churches don't really want men around. They lean toward women because they find women more malleable, less demanding of accountability, and more persuasible.

My former pastor, who had a ten person board of ministers, used to have about half and half men and women. By the time he retired, the Board was all women--except for the guy who pulled maintenance on the building. And the pastor seemed to like it that way just fine.

36 posted on 10/23/2011 7:13:32 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: hiho hiho

Fredrica Mathewes-Green may think that the appeal of the Orthodox church is that it’s challenging, but she’s also written that that challenge is what appeals to men; they make the move and haul their wives with them.

Really, who has curtains in church? (Not us Catholics.)


37 posted on 10/23/2011 7:13:38 PM PDT by heartwood
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To: MondoQueen

No sign of peace, I hope. (I despise that phoniness.)


38 posted on 10/23/2011 7:14:02 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: bray
The social justice message is driving us away.

Yep. I haven't attended any service, not one, by any denomination since the desecration of Jean Jean the preaching machine in 2003.

I'm still a believer, just refuse to put up with the watered down nonsense called "religion" these days.

39 posted on 10/23/2011 7:16:16 PM PDT by Professional Engineer (Never Again! Except for the next time.)
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To: jtal

He did do the typical leftists trick of leaving out the part where he supports his assertion and goes strate to the name-callign.


40 posted on 10/23/2011 7:16:32 PM PDT by ichabod1 (Nuts; A house divided against itself cannot stand.)
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