Pastor Ryan Burge (pictured) knows closing churches is common these days. Many US churches close each year.

But, given that he has been documenting the dramatic decline in religious affiliation in recent decades, his own church's closure is paradoxical.

At present he says about 30 percent of American adults are "Nones" - they identify with no religious tradition.

Burge uses his research in part to help other pastors reach their communities. But churches all over the country are closing down anyway. He couldn't even save his own.

His own church fell victim

While Burge - who is also a political science professor - derives his research through academic study, he could see the reality of his findings in his own community.

His own parish was a living - declining - example of a diminishing congregation.

"It's this odd thing, where I've become somewhat of an expert on church growth, and yet my church is dying" Burge says.

"A lot of what I do is trying to figure out how much I am to blame for what's happened around me."

When Burge became the First Baptist pastor in 2006, he had about "50 people on a good Sunday".

Recently, he's had just eight regular attendees.

"I'm willing to admit that I'm not as good as I could be or should be as a pastor" Burge says.

"But I'm also not willing to admit that it's 100 percent my fault.

"You know, in the 1950s you could be a terrible pastor and probably grow a church ... Now it doesn't look like that anymore."

Dramatic decline

The American Baptist denomination that Burge's church was affiliated with is part of a cluster of so-called mainline denominations.

These include Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian and Lutheran. All are now experiencing dramatically shrinking numbers.

So is the Southern Baptist Convention - America's largest evangelical denomination.

There is no annual census of US church closures. However, Southern Baptist-affiliated Lifeway Research reports about 4,500 Protestant churches closed in 2019.

Why churches close

Reasons given for the decline of congregations include scandal, conflict, mobility, indifference, lower birth rates and members shifting to a church they like better.

Despite this, researchers say most Americans remain religious. Some larger churches thrive. Others diminish. Some suggest the long rise of the "nones" has slowed or paused.

Nonreligious are more common today than a generation ago. Scholars say this trend is evident internationally.

"If Billy Graham had been born in 1975 instead of 1918, I don't think he'd have been as successful because he hit his peak right as the baby boom was taking off and America was really hungry for religion" Burge says.

Now everyone, Burge included, will be looking for a new church. "I have been preaching every Sunday since August of 2005 and I need to be a member of a church for a while, not up front" he says.

Source

• AP News

In so many ways, it has replaced the pub as a meeting place, a stop-off point for anyone and everyone to pause a while over a hot coffee, to read or have a chat.

Across the world, café names have become an integral part of the High Street, an international brand that is immediately recognized.

The café has become commonplace, each with its own character, furnishings and specialities.

Even though they are not quiet places, maybe, in fact, because of it, they do provide a comfort zone where words arrive and stories develop.

Often an overheard phrase finds its way into something I am writing, sparks a movement, and stimulates an idea, only to re-emerge in a poem or article phrase sometime later.

I always carry with me a book to read and a notebook for writing, for they are part of what I do when I find a comfortable seat and order a cappuccino.

I have met a good many and varied people in the café, a passing nod of ten minutes conversation, unlikely to be repeated again, but informative and enjoyable while it lasted, some help on the way.

The staff who serve become familiar faces and, with frequent visits, have remembered names.

The history of the café goes back hundreds of years.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the café was a well-established, cosmopolitan meeting place, not only for social exchange but as a place where business might be conducted.

The world-renowned London Stock Exchange started trading in Jonathan's Coffee House in 1698 in the City. Other well-known establishments, such as Christies and Sotheby's, developed from the café gathering of interested merchants and businessmen.

It is not uncommon nowadays for laptops to be set open on tables, with a tapping of keys heard between sips of coffee and the person using it to be illuminated by the screen.

Apart from the convivial meeting place after the school run or an alcohol-free zone for a relaxing chat, they can also be places for serious exchange, for stories to be told and a time of careful listening.

"Meet me for a coffee sometime soon" can be another way of saying, "I have something to say, will you listen with me?"

Nourished by the Eucharist

Those churches that have a parish hall where groups can gather after sharing the Eucharist are indeed fortunate.

It raises the question as to whether or not community arises from Eucharistic sharing or does our Eucharist spring from the gathering we often call parish.

Either way, humans are gathering creatures, anxious to share in so many ways.

It is natural for us to share with each other and, along with company, to eat and drink together. It's what we do.

So our journey goes on day by day, nourished by the Eucharist, our presence helps others with their problems and difficulties.

Look around at the other tables the next time you are in a café; watch the expressions on the faces of those who sit and drink and talk, who stretch out a gentle hand in comfort to a friend.

Friendship is about both laughing and crying together, sharing the load.

I have just received a new collection of poems by the young Irish poet, Kerrie O'Brien. One of them, entitled "Hemingway" concludes with these lines:

How could he be so close
And I not know it
The worst time to search
Whiteout, blizzard sleet
I hadn't eaten
The hunger raw and persisting
But he led me
And right where he lived
A café
Rose star
In the wilderness
Warm jewel
Run by an American woman
Big hearted
Who took me in
And gave me a muffin
Flooded with raspberry
Bloodsweet, glittering, hot.
It then came
A thudding chant
Be still, still
In the howling
Have faith
Just a little longer

Maybe her last two lines — Have faith, Just a little longer — form the core of the Epiphany we live when sharing the Eucharist, nattering in the parish hall or being with strangers in the café.

It is the daily expression of our being Christian.

• Chris McDonnell is from England and is a regular contributor to La Croix International.
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

Since then, consultations have taken place between the cardinal and the Riversdale Beach Charitable Trust about the church's status.

According to Trustee Neil Prichard, a sale was unlikely to happen. He said Dew's June statement reflected a misunderstanding about the 2017 memorandum of understanding between the trust and the Archdiocese.

Another trustee, Brian McGuinness, wrote to Dew to explain the status quo.

Dew responded, saying as the parish owned the property, it must be part of the property review. Still, discussions between the trust and the parish needed to take place.

As reported in the Wairarapa Times-Age, Dew said, "I would like the parish to discuss the future of the church with the trust and whether it should remain the parish's ownership, or whether perhaps it would be better owned by the trust."

"In those discussions, it is essential that the parish's capacity to provide masses at Riversdale is taken into account. I am happy to abide by those discussions, but they need to take place."

St Joseph's Catholic church was built in nearby Tinui in 1881. The building was relocated to serve Riversdale Beach 100 years later. Heritage New Zealand has recently listed St Joseph's as a Category 2 Historic Place.

In recent years the building had been refurbished, and the property had been successfully managed. The funds required to do this had come from substantial community donations of labour, materials, and cash.

"The main point is, whether owned by the parish or the trust in the future, it seems clear that St Joseph's will remain under the management of the trust and continue to be available for religious purposes to the Riversdale Beach community for the foreseeable future," Prichard said.

Sources

Wairarapa Times Age

Sacred Heart Whangamomona church is celebrating 100 years on Saturday - but the Mass to celebrate the centenary was the final service at the church. Read more

Parishioners of St Andrew's Church were notified during Sunday mass on June 25 that from the following day their place of worship would be closed indefinitely. Read more

St Patrick's is the only church left in the town.

The church was built in 1866, within a year of the discovery of gold at Ross.

It is a category 2 listed building with Heritage New Zealand.

It is also the oldest wooden building on the Coast.

And it is the second oldest church in the Christchurch diocese, after Akaroa.

But last year, parishioner numbers fell to just three, raising concerns for its future.

The Bishop of Christchurch, Barry Jones, will celebrate Mass in the the Church on 9 august as part of a diocesan visit to Westland.

Parishioner Biddy Manera said the more people who could attend that Mass, the better to show the significance of the church to the community.

Manera said while Mass numbers were not high at Ross, members of the Kokatahi-Kowhitirangi congregation, as well as visitors, often joined the twice-monthly Masses.

"Visitors do use it and people who come and stay in holiday homes come too, even people from other denominations because it is the only church in Ross — we don't turn anyone away."

Manera is a local historian and has a particular interest in the Chinese gold miners and their families who came to Ross from Guangdong Province in the 1870s.

Recently she's won the battle to buy back the Ross Cemetery after she discovered that in 2008, the Westland District Council mistakenly sold part of the Cemetery that included unmarked graves.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: radionz.co.nz

The Holy Family parish was formed in 2012 by combining two Timaru parishes, Timaru North and Sacred Heart

There are two churches in what was formally Timaru North, St Thomas the Apostle and St Joseph's.

St Joseph's, was built in 1938 and has not been used since 2009

"We haven't used that building for a Sunday Mass in five years. It's surplus to requirements," Father Brian Fennessy said.

If the decision is approved by the diocese, Father Fennessy said it would likely go on the market later in the year.

There are about 600 Holy Family parishioners attending each week.

Father Fennessey said that the two "great facilities" - St Thomas Church and the Sacred Heart Basilica - which were still being used were sustainable and served the needs of the parish very well.

Other possible changes, including that offices be consolidated at St Thomas' church administration area and that potential buyers be sought for the Sacred Heart centre and carpark section in Napier St, were still just proposals, said Father Fennessy.

Source

• Timaru Herald
• Image: rootsweb.ancestry.com

He told MPs that bat droppings were causing serious damage to medieval wall paintings, sculptures and wooden effigies - as well as posing a potential health hazard that has already forced the closure of one parish church. Read more

The original St James Presbyterian Church was built in 1882 and replaced with the current wooden building on Adelaide Rd in the early 1900s opposite Wellington Hospital.