"I am the door. By me if any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture." - John 10:9 At every parish where I have had the pleasure of attending services, there is always a small group of people who find their way all the way up to the church building but don't actually attend services. At one parish it was a group of male gypsies who talked on cellphones or smoked cigarettes. At another it was a few Protestant husbands who, though they never attended services, opened the parish doors for people as they filed in. At yet another parish the men stood in the narthex and chatted until it was time to receive and then got in line. Latin or Greek Catholic, Eastern or Oriental Orthodox I see the same small throng of men standing next to the front door, but not standing, sitting, or kneeling amongst the people. If it were me (and I can only speak for myself here) this option would be an unsavory one. The boredom would be immediate. The anxiety of som...
As a parent of a 4 and 10 year old, this is on my radar. Behind it, or rather the elephant, is the secularism *within* (in each of us, in our parishes, etc.). My experience has been that while many (most) parents, some laity, and a smattering of clergy are willing to in some way significantly address it, there is real resistance. Clergy in particular don't seem to want to acknowledge/address it for diverse reasons, some of which I can get my head around and others I can not (not that I agree with any of the reasons I have understood so far).
ReplyDeleteIf most of this seminar suggestions is of the variety of "attend more feasts/church/services and all will be well, all will be well" then that will be unfortunately more of the same...