Catholic schools are the jewel in the crown of the church in Australia. While parishes continue to decline, the school sector is often booming. The contrast between ageing congregations and young students is stark. Equally striking is the contrast between relatively youthful school staff and ageing church leaders. Twelve months ago, with the Plenary Council Read more
The Church of England is considering renting out underused parish churches due to decreased regular worship attendance. The move aims to preserve the potential for these churches to reopen in the future rather than be sold off after merging with larger parishes. This proposal is set for discussion by the General Synod, the Church’s legislative Read more
Sixty percent of the churches in a Catholic diocese in the Netherlands will close within the next five years. Dwindling numbers of churchgoers, volunteers and income are being being blamed. Bishop Jan Hendricks unveiled plans to around 90 parish administrators in the Haarlem-Amsterdam diocese last month. The 450-year old diocese dates back to 1559. It Read more
The Catholic Church can attract parishioners although changes are needed, says Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin. “We have to construct a mature Church” to attract parishioners, he says. The question is how: how will the Church choose to reach out to people and define itself? In his opinion, the Church will need to be very Read more
The Church of England has launched an evangelism drive. Part of its strategy is to attract young agnostics by “planting” churches, an American model where members of a healthy church set up new churches one elsewhere. According to Ric Thorpe, the Bishop of Islington 2,400 church plants are planned by 2030. Continue reading
An atheist is urging Christians to do more to keep Christmas alive in the South Waikato. Tokoroa Christmas Parade coordinator Tony Williams said he’s disappointed by the lack of Christians supporting the annual Carols in the Park event, which coincides with the parade as part of the Tokoroa Big Weekend in December. “I confess to Read more
A 99-year-old church for sale in Point Chevalier has a multi-million dollar CV. The Church of the Ascension in Point Chevalier, which closed for worship in July, was put on the market earlier this month. The 2004sqm Dignan St section has three buildings including the church, a vicarage and church hall. Continue reading
Latest figures show an 18% increase in the numbers attending services in England’s Anglican Cathedrals between 2005 and 2015. On average 36,700 people,adults and children, attended cathedral services each week in 2015. Almost all of the increase in attendance over the past decade has been in increasing midweek attendance. But in 2015 attendance at Sunday Read more
Declining church attendance has given rise to a steady stream of churches being converted into upmarket residences Two more former churches have recently gone on the market. In Wellington the former St James Presbyterian Church in Newtown’s Adelaide Rd, has been completely rebuilt to accommodate five new apartments. Architect Simon Novak of Novak + Middleton Read more
The decline in the Catholic population shown by the 2013 census “is quite alarming”, according to history professor Peter Lineham of Massey University. In the 2006 national census, 508,761 people identified themselves as Catholic. By the time of the 2013 census that had fallen to 492,111. The census results show that the number of self-identified Read more