worship

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Does the Anglican Church of Canada have a future?

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Does the Anglican Church of Canada have a future?

In the year of our Lord 1967, the Anglican Church of Canada had 1,218,666 members and 272,400 worshippers on a typical Sunday.

In a recent report, the church found 294,382 members on parish rolls and 58,871 people attending worship services.

”The religious institution many of us have long known and loved does not look now as it did even 20 years ago, and it will not look the same 20 years from now," noted a report from church leaders, "Creating Pathways for the Transformational Change of the General Synod (.pdf)."

Waves of declining statistics will "evoke grief, fear and longing. …This report does not seek to reverse current trends, but to respond to them to empower a much smaller church to thrive as it proclaims the gospel today and in the future."

Obviously, the "church is changing. … But that change is not the same as the end of the church. That change may be uncomfortable, but being uncomfortable is not the same as the end of the church," noted the Rev. Neil Elliot of the Province of British Columbia, in the report's executive summary. His X profile says he is the "official stats nurd" for Canadian Anglicans.

The "Creating Pathways" text noted that, while pew-level statistics have plunged 75%, the denomination still has 1474 parishes, compared to 1849 in 1967. Meanwhile, the number of bishops has increased from 36 to 39.

While promising to offer "prophetic imagination" and a "refusal to ignore difficult conversations," the report focuses on cuts and consolidations to increase efficiency, perhaps through remote work, AI advances and better communication networks. The bottom line: The church's 30 dioceses, four provinces and two national administrative bodies have "been sustained with a drastically decreased base of support." The General Synod staff has, in recent decades, been cut from 94 to 39.

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Catholics see symbols and signals of unity, as Pope Leo XIV begins his papacy

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Catholics see symbols and signals of unity, as Pope Leo XIV begins his papacy

For more than 26 years, Pope John Paul II traveled the world with a silver pastoral staff topped with a dramatic, abstract crucifix crafted by the 20th-century artist Lello Scorzelli.

This symbol of papal ministry was first used by Pope Paul VI at the Second Vatican Council finale and has been carried on occasion by subsequent popes. But, year after year, Mass after Mass, it became a powerful symbol of the life of John Paul II -- now St. John Paul II -- during the second longest papacy in history.

John Paul II used this staff during his inauguration Mass and so did Pope Leo XIV, during the May 18 rite that fell on the 105th anniversary of John Paul II's birth. The new pope also wore an iconic chasuble -- the outer liturgical cloak -- that is now considered a relic of St. John Paul II.

With the fisherman's ring and the lambswool pallium over his shoulders, these links to John Paul II helped Leo XIV stress the need for unity and core Catholic traditions.

"The Apostle Peter himself tells us that Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, and has become the cornerstone. Moreover, if the rock is Christ, Peter must shepherd the flock without ever yielding to the temptation to be an autocrat, lording it over those entrusted to him," Leo XIV told the flock of 150,000 assembled in St. Peter's Square.

"Brothers and sisters, I would like that our first great desire be for a united Church. … This is the missionary spirit that must animate us; not closing ourselves off in our small groups, nor feeling superior to the world."

But Leo XIV faces painful challenges, even while calling for unity.

Raymond Arroyo of the Eternal Word Television Network, and Fox News, tweeted on X: "Pope Leo at his Inaugural Mass, in a subtle reference to his predecessor, says 'Peter (the Pope) must shepherd the flock without ever yielding to the temptation to be an autocrat.' … He then pledged to be a source of unity."

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Pollsters need to start asking more detailed questions about American Catholic life

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Pollsters need to start asking more detailed questions about American Catholic life

Theology news rarely sends shock waves through Catholic offices around the world, but this headline did: "Just one-third of U.S. Catholics agree with their church that Eucharist is body, blood of Christ."

The key word in that famous Pew Research Center survey was "transubstantiation," which the report defined as the belief that the "bread and wine used for Communion become the body and blood of Jesus Christ."

It mattered, of course, whether the Catholics in this survey went to Mass. Nearly 70% of self-proclaimed Catholics said the consecrated bread and wine were mere "symbols," but 63% of those who reported weekly Mass attendance affirmed transubstantiation. Insiders noted that this meant that 37% of observant Catholics didn't embrace this crucial church doctrine.

"Any effort to measure human behavior is fraught with peril and complications," noted John C. Green of the University of Akron, reached by telephone. A trailblazer in studies of politics, pulpits and pews, Green has often served as a Pew Research consultant.

"If people say they go to Mass once a week, how certain can you be that they're telling the truth? … When it comes to doing surveys about what believers say and what they do, you can never ask too many questions."

Now, as Catholics prepare for a new pope, Pew has released new insights into lines of tension and division among American Catholics. Five years after the "transubstantiation" study, a new survey includes more evidence that "U.S. Catholics" disagree with many core Catholic doctrines and, thus, want a "more inclusive" church.

The tricky question, again, was how to define "U.S. Catholic," since the survey said:

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Puzzle: Many Catholic churches are in rapid decline, while others are booming

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Puzzle: Many Catholic churches are in rapid decline, while others are booming

For a century, there was one certainty in France -- the population was 97% Catholic.

That changed in the 1960s, with survey numbers spiraling to the current plateau of 25%, while the "religiously unaffiliated" numbers in France soared to 53%.

Thus, it made headlines when the French Bishops Conference announced that 10,384 adults joined the church this Easter, a 45% increase over 2024. The sharpest rise in conversions was among students and young people, representing 42% of the adult catechumens.

Truth is, many parishes in Europe are growing. But others are dying. As one theologian noted in a 1969 German radio interview, Catholicism was entering a time of painful decline in the modern world. But that was not the end of the story. Easter follows Good Friday.

"From the crisis of today the Church of tomorrow will emerge -- a Church that has lost much," warned Father Joseph Ratzinger. "She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. … In contrast to an earlier age, it will be seen much more as a voluntary society, entered only by free decision. As a small society, it will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members."

This was, of course, the man who became Pope Benedict XVI, explained Pope Francis, during a 2022 meeting with his fellow Jesuits.

"Pope Benedict was a prophet of this Church of the future, a Church that will become … more humble and authentic and find energy for the essential," said Pope Francis, who died of a stroke on the Monday after Easter. His predecessor predicted the coming of a "Church that is more spiritual, poorer and less political: a Church of the little ones."

This Easter, large numbers of converts swimming the Tiber also made headlines in England, with The Daily Telegraph noting “The Extraordinary Resurgence of the Catholic Faith in Britain” while a report at The Times said, "“Catholics Outnumber Anglicans Two to One Among Gen Z Churchgoers.”

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A bridge between Ash Wednesday and Easter: Most Americans do not 'get' Lent

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A bridge between Ash Wednesday and Easter: Most Americans do not 'get' Lent

When it comes to pulling Catholics into pews, Christmas rites top the list -- followed by a tie between Easter, the Christian calendar's most joyous day, and Ash Wednesday, which is the most sobering.

Last year, 51% of U.S. Catholics attended Mass on Easter, the same percentage as Ash Wednesday, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. Christmas drew 68%.

The bridge between Ash Wednesday and Easter is the penitential season of Lent.

"Participating in Ash Wednesday which leaves a black cross on the forehead is one way for Catholics to identify themselves publicly and to express pride in their religious tradition," noted Father James J. Bacik, writing for the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests. "It is also a way of indicating an intention to take Lent seriously."

Ash Wednesday services have, in recent decades, become common in some Protestant denominations. But what about Lent?

Lent is "not on the radar" for most Americans, according to a new Lifeway Research study focusing on Catholics, Protestants and the unchurched. One in four participants in the survey (26%) say they observe Lent, to one degree or another. That's lower than the 31% of Americans who claim to attend worship services weekly or almost weekly, according to 2023 polling by Gallup.

Most believers who observe Lent find their own ways to mark the season, with some form of the "give up one thing for Lent" pattern as the norm. It's hard to find evidence of ancient Christian patterns of fasting and abstinence in the survey results.

"Fasting is on the Christian liturgical calendar not unlike the Jewish Yom Kippur and Muslim Ramadan," noted Lifeway executive director Scott McConnell, in the organization's summary of the study. "For Christians attending non-liturgical churches, they may not even notice the season of Lent has arrived. It is not that they look down on the practices of fasting, prayer and charity. But if they participate, they may be exchanging additional time with God for other forms of self-denial."

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Is this a news story? Yet another threat to the ancient churches of Syria

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Is this a news story? Yet another threat to the ancient churches of Syria

In the Triumph of Orthodoxy service on the first Sunday of Great Lent, the clergy and faithful proclaim -- with many shouting -- bold statements of faith from the year 787, after decades of persecution.

"This is the Faith of the Apostles! This is the Faith of the Fathers! This is the Faith of the Orthodox! This is the Faith, which has established the Universe!"

These words were especially poignant during the March 9 rites at the Mariamite Cathedral of Damascus, amid reports that hundreds, maybe thousands, of Christians and members of the Muslim Alawite sect have been killed by Islamist militias in Syria.

The Antiochian Orthodox Patriarch John X addressed part of his sermon, by name, to the nation's interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former ISIS and al-Qaeda militant who is also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani.

"Mr. President, two days ago, I heard a sheikh, a friend of mine, publicly say that the Noble Prophet [Mohammad] instructed his followers that, 'If they go to war against a people, they must not harm the innocent, must not betray, must not mutilate, must not kill a woman or a child, and if they find a monk in his hermitage, they must not kill him,'" he said, in a translation by the ancient Antiochian patriarchate.

The patriarch added: "The tragic events unfolding in the Syrian coastal region have claimed the lives of many civilians and public security personnel, leaving numerous others wounded. However, the majority of the victims were not affiliated with any militant factions -- rather, they were innocent, unarmed civilians, including women and children."

In a Reuters interview, al-Sharaa vowed to stop the violence, adding: "We won't accept that any blood be shed unjustly, or goes without punishment or accountability, even among those closest to us. … Many parties entered the Syrian coast, and many violations occurred" while combatants sought "revenge."

In the chaos, journalists have struggled to confirm statistics about fatalities, while waves of social-media videos claim to show crucified Christians, Alawites being beaten, militants firing machine guns into houses, women being paraded naked and bodies stacked near streets.

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No, seriously: Jeff Foxworthy is convinced that God has a sense of humor

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No, seriously: Jeff Foxworthy is convinced that God has a sense of humor

As a rule, Jeff Foxworthy never refuses autograph requests, but the redneck comedy legend hit a wall during a funeral-home visitation for someone in his extended family.

"When you go to a funeral home, a lot of times there's more than one visitation going on," said Foxworthy, reached by telephone. "Across the hall, there was another one … and it was a rowdy bunch. In the break area they had coolers with cans of regular Budweiser. …

"At some point in the evening, somebody over there recognized me and they started coming into our side and wanting to get a picture made. You know, 'Can I get my picture with you?' … And one turned into three and that turned into seven or eight."

Then a woman arrived with a felt-tip marker and made a familiar request: "Can I ask you a favor?' … Can you sign my brother's tie?'"

Seeking an escape door back to his family, Foxworthy said: "'Where's your brother?' And she said, 'He's in here, in the casket.' And that's the only time I have ever denied somebody an autograph. … But asking me to climb up on the casket and autograph the guy's tie?"

The truth in this sobering parable is that humor often surfaces during life's big transitions, even when they involve sacred beliefs and traditions. That's one reason Foxworthy has never written "You Might Be A Redneck Churchgoer If" jokes.

Yes, audiences would yowl with laughter, especially in zip codes defined by faith, family, food and fishing. But for some people, religion jokes would cut too close to the bone, said Foxworthy.

After four decades in comedy, he said that he reminds himself, that "everybody I'm going to look at tonight is going through some kind of a struggle. It might be financial, it might be physical, it may be emotional. … I'm like, 'Just be kind to people.' You know? Have grace. You don't know their story. And I don't think humor makes people's struggles go away. But I do think … if you're able to laugh and set that burden down for a little bit, it almost, like, recharges you to where you can pick it back up and go deal with it."

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The Big Ideas at March for Life 2025 were bigger than mere political slogans

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The Big Ideas at March for Life 2025 were bigger than mere political slogans

The questions at the 2025 March for Life were familiar ones for D.C. Beltway insiders: Would major politicians show up and what would they say?

After a White House race in which his softer abortion language worried conservatives, President Donald Trump's video message affirmed: "To all of the very special people marching today in this bitter cold, I know your hearts are warm and your spirits are strong because your mission is just very, very pure: to forge a society that welcomes and protects every child as a beautiful gift from the hand of our Creator."

Vice President J.D. Vance, a convert to Catholicism, appeared in person and stressed the need to be "pro-family and pro-life in the fullest sense of that word. … Let me say very simply: I want more babies in the United States of America. I want more happy children in our country, and I want beautiful young men and women who are eager to welcome them into the world and eager to raise them."

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, in deeply personal remarks, stressed that he was born just before Roe v. Wade and this timing was more than symbolic. "I was the product of an unplanned teen pregnancy," he told the rally crowd, "and I am so eternally grateful that my mom and dad ignored all the people who told them to just take care of that problem, and they chose to embrace life and to have me, the first of their four children. It's a simple fact -- a very simple fact -- that had they not done that, I would not be here."

This was the third national March for Life since the Supreme Court vote to overturn Roe v. Wade and the January 24 event was affected by harsh winter weather that, days earlier, moved the presidential inauguration ceremonies inside the U.S. Capitol. Nevertheless, organizers estimated that the rally and march drew about 150,000 people, including busloads of students.

The vigil Mass the night before the march packed the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, with 5,000 students, adults and activists gathered in a variety of worship spaces inside the basilica, since the upper-sanctuary pews hold about 3,500 people.

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Superstar Denzel Washington has officially claimed the freedom to preach

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Superstar Denzel Washington has officially claimed the freedom to preach

When describing his life, Denzel Washington often notes a mysterious encounter on March 27, 1975, offering it as a parable about his Christian faith and his acting career.

The young Washington was in his mother's Mount Vernon, New York, beauty parlor, after horrible grades forced a leave of absence from Fordham University. An elderly church woman, who many believed had unique spiritual gifts, looked him in the eye and asked for a piece of paper.

Scribbling the details, Ruth Green announced: "I have a prophecy. Boy, you are going to travel the world and speak to millions of people."

Sharing this story at Dillard University in New Orleans in 2015, Washington added pulpit friendly advice: "What she told me that day has stayed with me ever since. I've been protected. I've been directed. I've been corrected. I've kept God in my life."

The actor stressed these words: "Put. God. First.”

After a press screening of "The Book of Eli" in 2010, he added another wrinkle, pondering the prophecy's implications. At one point, Washington, a member of the giant West Angeles Church of God in Christ, wondered if he was supposed to have been ordained.

Washington said his pastor noted: "Well, aren't you talking to millions of people? Haven't you traveled the world?"

That question recently surfaced, once again, when the two-time Oscar winner received a minister's license at the Kelly Temple Church of God in Christ in Harlem, a congregation he attended as a child. During this December 21 baptism rite -- broadcast online -- Washington rededicated his life to God and moved one step from full ordination. As a licensed minister, he can preach, perform weddings and lead some religious services.

"We celebrate the addition of Minister Denzel Washington into the clergy … in a truly uplifting moment," Archbishop Christopher Bryant wrote on Facebook.