www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News 30 years Christianity will be eclipsed - supposedly

Truly a sad state of affairs in the world. However they can't see past the nose of their face. They say it is because of the me-me society, that is wrong. It is because they do not want to be responcible for their own actions. It is sad too, because Christ ask if when he returned would he find any faith. If one truly believed what they are saying, you would say no. But, God is in control, not this craziness. Thank God for that! Plus that is Europe too.

Spirited away: why the end is nigh for religion
Carol Midgley
Christianity will be eclipsed by spirituality in 30 years, startling new research predicts. Our correspondent reports on the collapse of traditional religion and the rise of mysticism


IN THE beginning there was the Church. And people liked to dress up in their best clothes and go there on Sundays and they praised the Lord and it was good. But it came to pass that people grew tired of the Church and they stopped going, and began to be uplifted by new things such as yoga and t�ai chi instead. And, lo, a spiritual revolution was born.

It is unlikely that you, the average punter going to your aromatherapy or meditation group this evening, imagine that you are revolutionising the sacred landscape of Britain. But, little by little, you are.

Study after study appears to prove that people are increasingly losing faith in the Church and the Bible and turning instead to mysticism in guises ranging from astrology to reiki and holistic healing. The Government, significantly, said this week that older people should be offered t�ai chi classes on the NHS to promote their physical and mental wellbeing.

More and more people describe themselves as �spiritual�, fewer as �religious� and, as they do so, they are turning away from the Christian Church, with its rules and �self last� philosophy, and looking inwards for the meaning of life.

Twice as many people believe in a �spirit force� within than they do an Almighty God without, while a recent survey hailed a revival of the Age of Aquarius after finding that two thirds of 18 to 24-year-olds had more belief in their horoscopes than in the Bible.

If you don�t believe it, take a walk around Kendal, Cumbria, population 28,000. Since the millennium dawned, the ultra-traditional home of the mint-cake has been the subject of a spiritual experiment. Linda Woodhead and Professor Paul Heelas, both specialists in religion at Lancaster University, chose the town to measure the growth of the �holistic milieu� and the decline of Christian congregational worship.

The conclusion of their new book, The Spiritual Revolution, is dramatic: Christianity will be eclipsed by spirituality in this country within the next 20 to 30 years. Many people believe that this �New Romantics� movement will prove more significant than the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.

This is gloomy stuff for the traditional churchgoer. Only 7.9 per cent of the population now attends church, down from 11 per cent 20 years ago. Although holistic practices are still comparatively small (less than 2 per cent of the population nationally participate) it is the phenomenal rate of growth not just among the young but also the middle-aged and much older that is threatening to overshadow traditional churchgoing.

Kendal mirrors the national statistics with eerie precision: 2,207 people in the town � 7.9 per cent of the population � attend church on Sunday while 600 � 1.6 per cent of the population of the town and environs � take part in some kind of holistic activity.

During the 1990s, when the town�s population grew by 11.4 per cent, participation in the �new spirituality� grew by 300 per cent. Woodhead and Heelas contend that �mini revolutions� have already taken place, and point out that in Kendal the holistic milieu now outnumbers every single major denomination apart from Anglican. (There are 531 Roman Catholics, 285 Methodists and 160 Jehovah�s Witnesses.)

�If the holistic milieu continues to grow at the same linear rate that it has since 1970 and if the congregational domain continues to decline at the same rate that it has during the same period, then the spiritual revolution would take place during the third decade of the third millennium,� they write with prophetic zeal.

If you were searching for a symbol of this revolution, you need look no further than the United Reformed Church in Dent. This building was once the nucleus of the Christian community of Dent, a quintessentially English village a few miles outside Kendal. But over the years apathy crept in and the congregation declined until it was down to one. To raise money, the church hired out its old schoolroom as a spiritual meditation centre. Local interest in meditation ballooned. When the church was forced to sell the building the meditation group bought it and refurbished it. Now it is flourishing where the old church failed. One of its trustees is a Church of England warden.

So what does meditation have that conventional worship does not? Neutrality, suggests Elizabeth Forder, who runs the centre. �We are not affiliated to any religion and there is no belief system imposed on anybody here,� she says. �I was brought up a Christian, but it held no real meaning for me. I would class myself as a universalist, believing that all religions offer the same end. At its simplest, meditation is giving the body and mind a very deep level of rest, freeing us to be ourselves.� She mentions an 87-year-old man who used to belong to the congregation and now meditates regularly.

If disaffected churchgoers are seeking neutrality, they are also in flight from judgment. �I don�t want to be preached at any more�, �I�m sick of being made to feel guilty� or �I don�t need to be told how to live my life,� people will say when asked why they stopped attending church. And when they speak of their spiritual malaise, they use the language of the therapist�s couch. One Kendal woman in her forties summarised her spiritual shift thus: �A one-hour service on a Sunday? It�s not really enough time to address your self-esteem issues, is it? I didn�t find any help in the churches. I found it in a 12-step programme. That was the start of my personal journey.�

Critics will say that this is merely the end product of a prosperous me-me-me society that has encouraged navel-gazing and pampering of the self via routes ranging from personal therapy to facial massage. This is too simplistic, insist Heelas and Woodhead. �It is standard to lash this kind of thing and cite it as evidence of the narcissistic self,� says Woodhead. �But I would say it is inaccurate to say that people are doing this just for pleasure. Trying to become yourself but better through your relationships with others is a very noble activity.�

Dear Pani Rose:

On the other hand, just last night Joe Scarborogh (sp?) devoted his entire one-hour show to the issue of the influence of moral values on the re-election of Pres. Bush.

This was the sleeper issue that the mainstream media could not fathom would come to the fore.

Your neighbors in the proverbial "red states" are getting their moral teachings from somewhere -- and voting on them in droves.

As for Europe, it is pretty well documented that secularization is the trend. In Italy, everyone is Catholic but do they go to Church regularly and adhere to the Church's teachings? Not if you believe what you hear.

Finally, if people are looking for a sence of the mystical and spiritual while remaining in the Christian fold, I think we of the Christian East could accomodate them, don't you?

Yours respectfully,

Hal

Dear Friends,

I think that what people are looking for is the mystical side of Christianity (and there is a lot of it in Byzantine Christianity).

They will go elsewhere to find these "transcendental" experiences if they don't find it in their traditional churches.

Alex

Alex is right. There is much emptiness, much "blandness", much horizontal worship ("Praise us from whom all blessings flow!") in many churches today, and I think many people understand and reject that. Eastern Christianity could be an answer to this situation.

Also, the elites have been predicting the imminent demise of Christianity for hundreds of years, and it keeps coming back from the grave. Fitting, no?

Glory to Jesus Christ!

I agree with this wholeheartedly.

That is why I see such tremendous potential for Eastern Christianity. It has so much to offer this anemic culture of ours that it brings tears to my eyes!

First, we ourselves need to recognize what a great gift this Faith is, and then offer it openly to everyone.

Michael

I have to agree with you. The West has been too heavily influenced by the austerities of Calvin and Jansen. The desire to restore simplicity has resulted in sterile, ugly churches and liturgies.

These elites also fail to look outside their own cultural milieu as well. While Christianity may be declining in Britain, it's enjoyed quite a healthy growth in Africa.

That is why I said However they can't see past the nose of their face.

God moves mysteriously among his people. And he will do his work with or without them. Thank you Jesus for your VICTORY!

Dear Friends,

Perhaps also we ourselves experience the temptation to "resist" mysticism in our daily spiritual lives - and we shouldn't.

I know that I tend to measure "spiritual success" by having fulfilled this rule of prayer, done that, been there etc.

As I love the Rule of the Mother of God or the Rosary, I say it daily with some added words to each Hail Mary for the Mysteries - a great way to focus on the meditations, fyi.

There's a lot of structure in my Rule, but sometimes it appears that God overcomes my resistance to His command to "be still and know that I am God."

This comes to us when we feel we lose control of our prayer and feel the experience of "subject."

Tears may come at those times, and it is as if we are ourselves led along in our prayer, being prompted to stay where we are for as long as Someone Else wishes us to be - and then move on or not.

It may be a time when we are paralyzed in a kind of spiritual state and the pain and suffering of others and their prayer needs come to mind as we commemorate them and lift them up to God, asking Him to have compassion on them as we tearfully feel compassion for them ourselves, knowing not what to do to help them.

Or it could be a time when we simply stand in God's Presence, lost in adoration or silence, knowing that He is gazing on us in love and acceptance and comes to us in the "cloud of unknowing."

Could others share their experiences too?

Alex

Hi Orthodox Friends: this is my first post here and I wanted to remark about Alex's comment:

As I love the Rule of the Mother of God or the Rosary, I say it daily with some added words to each Hail Mary for the Mysteries - a great way to focus on the meditations, fyi.

I too love the Rosary and try to pray all 15 mysteries each day! I also add a few words regarding the mystery after each "thy womb, Jesus", such as "who was scourged for me." This way I can keep the mystery focused in my mind!

By the way, we have a nightly Rosary Chat room going where people from all over the world pray together. I moderate the room 3 or 4 nights a week at 8pm. If you are interested in joining, visit www.mmponline.org. [mmponline.org.]

I love reading everyone's posts and I have learned so much about Eastern Orthodoxy in the last few weeks from you all! I have been attending St. Mary's Byzantine-Ukrainian Catholic Divine Liturgy here in Florida and although I can't understand the language, I love the Mass and try to follow along with a Mass book.

I'm seriously thinking and praying about becoming a Byzantine Rite Catholic, but I wonder what happens to my diaconate. Does anybody know? I'm inactive right now cause I recently relocated here from Brooklyn, but I'm still incardinated for that diocese.

Thank you for allowing me to post this message!
God love you all!
John

Welcome Deacon John

Just a wee correction to start you on your way :p

We ain't all Orthodox Christians - just you wait and see

To start the ball rolling - I'm canonically RC - though I freely admit that my preference would be to be UGCC .

Here you will find everyone - Orthodox , Catholic [ of many varieties - I'm not going to be silly enough to try and list all the ones who are here :p ] Protestant -- we have had Muslims as well, ooooh you name it and I think they've been here.

Some stay - some don't

Sit back - relax and get to know us

Anhelyna

I find this question very interesting, and although I cannot answer it I am very interested in the answer for it. It could be a thread on it's own merits.

First I want to say welcome to the Forum!

Of course, you will hear this repeated a few times in different ways: Some Eastern Catholic parishes will still identify their worship services as a Mass (an old effect of latinization), but we will call it the Divine Liturgy.

I think you should write the local Eparch of the Byzantine Sui Iuris church of your choice (Ruthenian, Ukrainian or Melkite) and ask about the prospect of acquiring bi-ritual faculties.

In order to actually transfer into an Eastern jurisdiction a layperson would ordinarily be a parish member for a time (usually at least one year under the church calendar and in some cases as much as three years!), adopt the theology of the Eastern church and then write a letter to the Eparch.

Your case might be different, due to your having been ordained already.

Nil Carius Christo,
Michael, that sinner

Welcome, Welcome!

To answer your question, I think maybe I can attempt. Talk with the priest, does he know you are a deacon? Then like Michael said contact the Eparch. We have recently had a Roman Deacon gain bi-ritual (for lack of a better way of expressing it) faculties in Knoxville, Tn. Our ByzanTn or Ed Klages can fill you in more on it. But, he was accepted and had to spend time at the seminiary for training so he could serve the Divinve Liturgy with the Ruthenians. So the answer is yes it is possilbe. Also, we have a Deacon Mike on the forum from California who is Roman and serves the Melkites. My husband is a Ruthenain Deacon and serves the Melkites.

Pani Rose

Thanks for all the replies!!! Yes I know it's Divine Liturgy but I also attended a Western Orthodox Liturgy the other day and they called it a Mass! So I'm a little confused on that right now.

That's wonderful news about being bi-ritual. I know of priests who have those faculties but didn't know any deacons. One of my class-mates, a Lebonese married gentleman was ordained separately by his bishop and went on to become a priest in his Rite. I was facinated by that! I think it is the Maronite Rite?

I really too old to start re-training (you can't teach an old dog new tricks!) as an Eastern Rite Deacon, I was just afraid to lose what I have. A priest in the Orthodox Church told me that if I became Orthodox, I would become a lay person. I want to die as a holy deacon, which I'm still working on Ha-ha!

I'm looking forward to the reunification of all Churches as Our Lady has promised in her apparitions at Garabandal and many other places. I pray for this intention every day.

Have you heard of Our Lady of Soufanieh, Damascus, Syria, where Mother Mary appeared to Mirna Nazzour. One of the messages of Our Lady was "I have said: The Church is the kingdom of Heaven on earth. He who divides it has done wrong, and he who rejoices in its division has also done wrong. My children, be united. My feast is when I see all of you gather together. Your faith is My feast. The unity of your hearts is My feast."
Here is their web-site: www.soufanieh.com. [soufanieh.com.]

God bless us all!
John

Dear brother in Christ, Deacon John,

I cannot believe that you would be too old at any age to take on the faculties of a deacon in another Catholic Sui Iuris church! God gives the gifts, it is up to us to make use of them.

Please consider this possibility, we could use you.

Especially if you are sensitive to the distinctions in theology between East and West.

Good men are hard to find, Father Deacon John.