Do You Know How Bad the Dechristianization of Europe Really Is?

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JamalChristophr said:
I read in a reputable book written in the 90’s that stated only 12% of the population of Rome attends Sunday mass.
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Maybe everyone else is just attending the Saturday vigil like me?
I say unconvincingly.

I hear Europe is even worse than other Western countries, like the US and Canada. You may have the freedom to believe what you like, but you’re chalked up as a nut if you don’t keep your beliefs in the four walls of your church.
 
Bon_Croix said:
If the Mormon door to door thing is successful, it is not due to God.
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No doubt about that, but I think such activities would have a great impact on evangelization.

Think about it: everyone’s used to Mormons and JWs and college students with petitions coming to their doorstep, but when’s the last time a Catholic showed up? It would be novel.
 
‘But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent?’ Romans 10:14
 
I’m in the U.K. also and agree. It is very secular. The C of E is in free fall attendance wise. There was an earthquake in Wales yesterday which I take as another sign that we are in the age Our Lady prophesied at Fatima. We are not there yet but I think as things unfold many will begin to rethink things and turn to God simply because sometimes it takes tragedy, misfortune and disaster for people to wake up. Sadly it seems that God will allow this if this is what it takes to save people. God never wills evil BUT He does permit it to draw good out of it. God’s desire ultimately is not to punish people but to save them eternally. When thousands are dying in disasters, natural and man made it does tend to concentrate people’s minds. The churches were full immediately after 9/11.
 
I don’t know enough about Europe to evaluate the “door to door” approach, how it would work there. In the US, sometimes parishes do a door to door parish census. This seems a lot less threatening to people. If people respond, yes, we are Catholic, you can ask if there if they have any need the parish might meet. Here is one sheet of paper with Mass times, and a few activities if you are interested.

If they express an interest in joining the parish, you could take a little information there and then. If they say they don’t belong to any denomination, just a friendly greeting, the parish is your neighbor, feel free to drop in or contact us anytime.

If they say, “I’ve always been Lutheran, but I have not joined any church since we moved here”, you can tell them Our Savior Lutheran Church is 4 blocks over on Maple Street. They have their Sunday service at 11:00 AM.
 
…"we need to leave our comfort zone."👍👍👍
the call is quite strong!
 
Don’t worry too much about the earthquake. They occur every 4-5 years, usually on a smaller scale but I remember the last one.
 
But…also remember that the Church is growing quite a bit in Africa and parts of Asia. Even (some say) in parts of the middle East. I think there’s a pattern here: as the West, who have been Christian a long time, reject Christianity, it arises elsewhere so those countries have equal time.
The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a great story of masses of conversions over a short period of time. It is good to keep in mind–with heaven’s intervention things can turn around.
 
I’m not European, but I’m always happy to be an armchair theoretician 🕺: imo, something that personally helps encourage me about the future is by having at least some knowledge of the past.

Like, how back in the good old days, French priests & nuns were lined up for the guillotine in revolutionary France. Or how Catholics were heavily persecuted in Elizabethan England. Or how in the High Middle Ages when Europe was allegedly ruled by the Church, the European monarchs often did pretty much whatever they wanted and the Pope was like a mother trying to control 12 children with one hand tied behind her back and her ankle handcuffed to the refrigerator.

If I had a rosier picture of the past, I’m sure it would make me more pessimistic about the present.

Christianity in Europe is in rough shape, maybe especially in Germany/Scandinavia, but imo, things can only get so bad before they eventually get a little better. I think we can already see this with how there’s actually been a steady increase in religious orders in places like Sweden, which in many ways is seen as the classic poster child of secular liberalism. Also, Eastern Europe was under atheistic communism for 3 generations and right now it is experiencing a regrowth of the faith. Is it perfect? Of course not, but it never has been.

Also - and this is getting into a tender subject - the places in Europe most affected by extreme secularism are the historically majority protestant nations that had a somewhat more utilitarian / individualistic spirituality. Catholic Europe has had intense struggles too (when Pope Blessed Paul VI was Archbishop of Milan, he campaigned tirelessly to help prevent a communist government being elected in Italy. It nearly happened, but it didn’t). For the most part it has survived better than other parts of the continent. I don’t think this is coincidence.

I also believe the increase in Islam and the cultural upheaval it is bringing is inadvertently going to continue to reawaken some interest in the ancient Christian faith. This might lead to some rough times with alt rightism, alt leftism, and potentially things even worse, but that is all going to be an opportunity for the faith to reassert itself into people’s lives.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI believes the faith will survive and experience a limited renewal, and I agree with him.

The spark of Christianity was lit in Palestine but it matured in Europe. There is an immense wealth of spiritual treasures in her countries and I don’t believe the faith will ever completely die there. And don’t call me Shirley.
 
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Not all of Europe is bad though.

Portugal and Poland never lost the faith and they remain solidly Catholic.

Italy remains very much Catholic.

Greece remains very much Catholic (in its native Eastern Orthodox form)

Much of the Balkans remains very much Catholic.

France and Spain still have huge Catholic populations.

Southern Germany and Austria are still very much Catholic.

Ukraine, Russia and former Soviet Eastern European states are experiencing a huge Catholic renaissance.

So while it may be true that most of Western and Northern Europe are facing severe crises of faith, it is not exactly fair to group all of Europe together.
 
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I would hope that Ireland will remain a pillar of Catholicism too
 
Ireland has been badly rocked by the abuses by the Catholic Church though. I think there’s currently a lot of disenchantment.
 
europa is a continent of “politically correct” cowards

don’t worry, though; America is not too far behind in the death spiral
 
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