Posted on 04/06/2013 3:19:57 PM PDT by NYer
It may not be the reason you think.
The Rev. Stephen Fichter understood just how dominant a role sports has assumed in the culture when a family told him they would be out of town Good Friday to Easter Sunday to attend their child’s volleyball tournament.
“It’s truly sports that has become like the religion” for many people, said Fichter, a researcher and the pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Haworth, N.J.
From youth travel teams to big-time national festivals such as the Final Four, sports have been making increasing inroads in the busy lives of many Americans. Some scholars even trace the evolution of sports from pastime to a form of civil religion to now having become almost a folk religion.
And it is having an impact on religious groups, which report increasing difficulty convincing families that are willing to spend half a day traveling to a 9-year-old’s softball or soccer game to make time for worship services.
Some congregations are meeting the challenge by offering alternative service times and their own sports teams and programs. But many despair of their ability to compete in a culture increasingly consumed by athletics, with its multi-million dollar idols and its own sacred relics. Witness the Babe Ruth jersey that sold last year for $4.4 million.
In a study of 16 declining congregations in the U.S. and Canada, the reason most cited by clergy and members for falling attendance was the secularization of Sunday, with many identifying children’s sports as most responsible. Researcher Stephen McMullin of Acadia Divinity College in Nova Scotia reported the findings in the current issue of the Review of Religious Research.
“(Parents) will make sure Johnny goes to sports, but when it comes to church, I’ve just seen it over and over again, and even in our own congregation, the families that have children in sport will sacrifice church for the sake of their son or daughter’s sports program, so sports is another huge reason why our church is declining,” one pastor said.
There were few Easter Christians, individuals who show up for worship one or two days a year, among the earliest followers of the faith.
Facing penalties “like hanging — that tends to clear the head,” the Rev. Aidan Kavanagh, the late liturgy professor at Yale Divinity School, dryly observed.
Christians in the United States no longer need fear persecution for missing services. Demanding schedules, many of which revolve around youth sports, are the new competition for congregations.
Fichter surveyed 341 Catholics in one congregation who reported attending only on Easter and Christmas. He said he thought many people would cite disagreement with church teachings or negative experiences. But only 7 percent of respondents gave either of those reasons.
More than two-thirds said the reason they attend only twice a year was that they were too busy with other commitments. Sixteen percent admitted they were lazy. Fichter reported the findings at the joint annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and the Religious Research Association.
It is a principle of long standing and is uncontroversial.
You know, your second grade catechism books were perhaps not the most definitive and complete representations of the Magisterium. LOL.
I’m not telling YOU not to go to the modernist Mass. But I do have to wonder — where would the blind obedience end? If the Masses in you area were celebrated by a lesbian feminist witch priest who fed the Eucharist to her dog would you still feel the obligation? Any limits at all?
I told our preacher that Jesus would drive him out of the temple with a whip. I was told to not come back. I’m ok with that. I get more out of reading my Bible for 10 minutes then I got out of a couple years of that douchebag’s sermons.
Sorry, that’s easy. It wouldn’t be Mass. The Vatican will not give in to women as priests nor practicing lesbians (celibacy is a requirement of homosexuals wishing to be Catholic).
Easy.
My next "teacher" turned my church (Corpus Christi-Rochester NY) into a haven for homos and pretend female ministers.
My high school chaplain Father Finks was a communist...I'm posting his bio right after this)
My next church...I walked in the door and he said "Welcome...you're new....and handed me a box of envelopes....never even asked my name (And I wasn't new)
And the last church....no statues, no crosses, a guitar.....and a priest who was "evicted/convicted" for homosexual encounters.
I carry my rosary with me everywhere...and do God 24/7.
“I’m single and when I go to church I feel a little odd sitting by myself.”
I used to feel the same way. After reading this article will not feel so bad. At least not guilty of not going and for what? A stupid child’s game that in the long run does not amount to a hill of beans. Most often the parents are fighting in the stands over their child either not getting enough play time or their team not winning? Yes the kids are much better off in church.
I must be more blessed than I knew. Our church is never empty and all the masses are well attended. We have Eucharistic adoration around the clock up to 4 pm Saturday that starts back on Sunday after the last mass. We have the Novus Ordo mass but our choir director and priest coordinate a lot of Latin interspersed in much of the liturgy during certain periods. (Lenten practice at our church is too to sing Sanctus and Agnus Dei) Everyone hangs on every word the priest utters and he’s just a baby (40 yo)!
I live in Wichita and everybody in my church went crazy over the Shockers (WSU) and some went to Atlanta :( so sad they lost. But I’m just not seeing the things other folks are talking about here. Even when I sometimes go to other parish mass for whatever reason I don’t see it empty. God bless Wichita Kansa and thank you Lord
I left when I would no long sit next to Obama voters.
“Not forsaking our assembly, as some are accustomed; but comforting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:25
It's so crowded, nobody goes there any more!
Sloth is a capital sin.
Some churches aren’t ..... To many have evolved into social clubs versus a house of worship. This oldie but goodie comes to mind .....
One Sunday morning an old cowboy entered a church just before services were to begin. Although the old man and his clothes were spotlessly clean, he wore jeans, a denim shirt and boots that were very worn and ragged. In his hand he carried a worn out old hat and an equally worn out Bible. The church he entered was in a very upscale and exclusive part of the city. It was the largest and most beautiful church the old cowboy had ever seen. The people of the congregation were all dressed with expensive clothes and accessories. As the cowboy took a seat, the others moved away from him. No one greeted, spoke to, or welcomed him. They were all appalled at his appearance and did not attempt to hide it.
As the old cowboy was leaving the church, the preacher approached him and asked the cowboy to do him a favor. “Before you come back in here again, have a talk with God and ask him what he thinks would be appropriate attire for worship.” The old cowboy assured the preacher he would.
The next Sunday, he showed back up for the services wearing the same ragged jeans, shirt, boots, and hat. Once again he was completely shunned and ignored. The preacher approached the man and said, “I thought I asked you to speak to God before you came back to our church.”
“I did,” replied the old cowboy.
“If you spoke to God, what did he tell you the proper attire should be for worshiping in here?” asked the preacher.
“Well, sir, God told me that he didn’t have a clue what I should wear. He said He’d never been in this church.”
No doubt you gladly support all the pedophiles in the public education system by paying your property taxes with nary a whimper.
I don’t go any longer because of the people. I’d go otherwise.
People won’t know if they are saved until their particular judgment. That’s a part of the Bible you apparently have yet to read.
Ha! So much for heaven. Hiss much?
I;m si glad blue laws are gone. They were simply wrong.
Interesting quote from a Christian Post article on Andy Stanley’s recent “Drive” Conference: “A major reason for the decline of the church, Stanley contended, is that Christians have focused too much on policing the behavior of outsiders without looking at the inside. ‘If in the past 50 years, the church had done a good enough job policing our own behavior, then we would not be able to build churches big enough and fast enough today,’ he said, adding that the imperatives of the New Testament are addressed to Christians. ‘Who doesn’t want to be part of a community that loves one another, prays for one another, shares and cares for one another? But that’s not what comes to mind when people think of the church.’”
I agree. Have gone to the same church my whole life. Love the people and theres very little to complain about but i hate getting up early on my only day off but maybe wouldnt mind it as much if the minister was interesting. A little more fire and brimstone would be wonderful. Our world is so full of sin and addiction and temptation that it would be nice for my kids to hear it dealt with in church.
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