Anyone attend church outside the US?

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RCIAGraduate said:
How is the situation is Asia?
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Haven’t been in ages but I’ve been 10 times to South Korea on business, and the Church is very much alive there. Outside the Philippines, South Korea is the most Christian nation in Asia. I used go to Mass at a Franciscan mission in Seoul where they offered Mass in most main languages. I’d go in English even though I prefer French as the time (Sunday morning) was more convenient than Saturday evening when I would usually be busy. I know some Korean oblates, they have a huge oblate community there.

I can say hello, beer, and thank you in Korean… but that’s about it.
 
OddBird said:
The thing that stands out to me, as a French expat, is that where I live, all older churches are Protestant churches.
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This doesn’t surprise me. Zwingli made sure Protestantism became synonymous with Swiss patriotism.
 
Sounds like the Notre Dame Basilica.
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Adamek said:
Your reply presents a positive image of the church in Switzerland.
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It is a positive image of the Church in my particular little corner of Switzerland, at least. I can tell you how things are in the city I live and work in, but I can’t really speak for anywhere else.

Switzerland may be a tiny country, but it is nonetheless a federal country, with 26 states. Each one has marked differences in its relationship to religion.

In mine, a historically Protestant state, there has been significant recent immigration from Catholic countries (Spain, Portugal, Italy, France). That probably accounts in part for the good health of the parish I attend.

As a side note, I am on my way to Rome from a Protestant tradition in which I currently am a pastor. I work for the Protestant sister parish of the Catholic parish I attend, and the differences are impressive. I don’t think our two Sunday services gather as many people as the Sunday evening mass alone. Our congregation is also noticeably older. My Protestant church, who 30 years ago had full churches every Sunday throughout the state, is slowly dying, as are other historically dominant Protestant churches in other states.

I don’t really know how the Church is doing in historically Catholic states. The only one I know well is Fribourg, and its reality is probably a bit distorted by the fact that it is such a huge Catholic education centre, draining people (including many priests and religious) from all over Europe.

The parish I go to is certainly very different from my parents’ parish in France. They live in one of the historically most strongly Catholic parts of France, they attend the huge and magnificent cathedral of a relatively big city, and it is often mostly empty.
RCIAGraduate said:
do you have hope for the Church despite demographic trends in Europe?
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Yes. Christ promised the gates of hell wouldn’t prevail against Her.
 
Dan_Defender said:
This doesn’t surprise me. Zwingli made sure Protestantism became synonymous with Swiss patriotism.
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That’s not quite true.

Zwingli had relatively little influence in French-speaking Switzerland (Calvin and Farel had, but they were not really on friendly terms with Zwingli), so one cannot say his influence was decisive on Switzerland as a whole.

And, as far as Swiss patriotism goes, the founding myth of Switzerland (the Grütli pledge) reunites three overwhelmingly Catholic founding states (Schwytz, Uri, Unterwald). Typical Swiss clichés are also mainly taken from the folklore of Catholic states.

The composer of the Swiss national anthem was a Cistercian priest.
 
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I went to many churches in Switzerland. Although I am Catholic, I did find the Reformed St Pierre’s Cathedral in Geneva to be very austere but at the same time very beautiful.
 
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