Data from a recent Lifeway Research study of American Protestant adults who attend church at least twice a month and have attended more than one church as an adult provide pastors and church leaders with insights into the ins and outs of who's going in or out of their church doors.

During the screening process, researchers found nearly half (47 percent) of Protestant churchgoers who attend church at least twice a month have only attended one church as adults.

Among those who have regularly attended multiple churches, more than four in five (85 percent) have regularly attended fewer than six. Specifically, 63 percent have regularly attended two or three churches, and 22 percent have attended four or five.

Overall, church changes often follow a residential move. Three in five (60 percent) churchgoers who've switched churches say they decided to attend their current church due to a residential move.

"Many churchgoers have or will change churches either because they want to or because they have to after moving to a new home," said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research.

"It is helpful for church leaders to see how those looking for a new church conduct their search and the large number of things they feel are important in their new church."

Many churchgoers who have switched churches as adults are still settling into their current churches, with half saying they began attending their current church five years ago or less (50 percent ).

Around one in three (34 percent) churchgoers who have switched churches have attended their current church for one to five years. And 16 percent have attended their current church for less than a year.

Navigating transition

Whether impacted by a residential move or not, 41 percent of those who have switched churches say they stopped attending church for more than three months between churches, up from 28 percent who said the same in 2006.

Nearly half of churchgoers said they began actively searching for a new church after leaving their previous one (48 percent), and 21 percent said they do not recall actively searching for a church.

But some began the search for a new church before leaving their previous one (31 percent).

With a variety of resources available to churchgoers looking for a new church, fewer church switchers today than in 2006 rely on in-person visits to churches (69 percent v. 83 percent), recommendations from family, friends, neighbors or colleagues (56 percent v. 64 percent) or a phonebook or local advertisements (10 percent v. 19 percent).

And they are more likely today to rely on church websites (37 percent), social media sites (29 percent) or online search tools (27 percent) than they were in 2006 to rely on "internet websites/online search tools" (21 percent).

Both those changing churches locally and those making residential moves rely heavily on in-person visits (71 percent v. 69 percent).

Meanwhile, movers are more likely to use online resources including church websites (40 percent v. 31 percent), social media sites (32 percent v. 24 percent) and online search tools (30 percent v. 21 percent

"Shopping for a new church is more of a hybrid search today, with most of those who are switching churches relying on both personal visits and referrals as well as electronic information and discussions," McConnell said.

Introductions to current church

Around 3 in 10 churchgoers who have changed congregations were first introduced to their current church because a friend or acquaintance invited them to attend (31 percent), they heard about it through word of mouth (29 percent) or a family member invited them to attend (27 percent).

Others had always been familiar with the church (25 percent) or had driven by it before (23 percent).

Fewer were first introduced to their church by finding the church website (15 percent), finding out about it on the internet (15 percent), seeing it on social media (10 percent), asking for recommendations online (eight percent), finding out about it from an ad (seven percent) or finding out about it through a media story (six percent).

Church switchers who have made a residential move are more likely than those who have not to have been first introduced to their current church online.

They found it through the church website (20 percent v. eight percent), the internet (19 percent v. nine percent), social media (12 percent v. six percent) or online recommendations (11 percent v. five percent).

Among those who were first introduced to their church through the church's website, more than two in three (67 percent) said the church's beliefs and mission were the most helpful thing on the website.

Churchgoers also found simple and practical information such as church location (66 percent) and worship times (64 percent) to be helpful.

Others found ministries or events (50 percent), sermons (42 percent), contact information (39 percent), staff profiles (33 percent) and social media contacts (26 percent) to be helpful.

First visit back to church

By far, when churchgoers are visiting a new church, the first event or activity they will likely attend is a worship service (68 percent).

However, this is down from 2006 when nearly nine in 10 (88 percent) said a worship service was the first thing they attended at their current church.

Church switchers who are not making residential moves are more likely than those who are to attend a worship service first (73 percent v. 64 percent).

Fewer than one in 10 say the first event or activity they attended at their current church was a Bible study class or small group at the church (six percent), a social get-together among church members (six percent) or a streamed worship service (five percent).

Similarly, fewer than one in 10 attended a Bible study class or small group in a home first (four percent), a class other than a Bible study that interested them (four percent), a service ministry of the church (four percent) or a musical event (two percent).

Among the small sample who attended a streamed service first, 54 percent said they streamed worship services four or more times before visiting in person, with 15 percent saying they watched a streamed service four or five times and 39 percent saying they watched a service more than five times.

"A church's worship service is still the front door of the typical church, but a third of first-time visitors will use a different door today," McConnell said. "It is important that every ministry within a church realizes they may have the first contact with someone who needs a church."

For more church switchers today than in 2006, it only takes a few visits to decide that's the church they will attend regularly.

Today, more than 7 in 10 (71 percent) decide to regularly attend their current church after visiting worship services three times or less.

Half of churchgoers who changed churches (50 percent) say it took them two or three visits to decide, compared to 38 percent in 2006. And 20 percent say it took one visit, compared to 16 percent in 2006.

Welcomed or not

When visiting their current church, most church switchers say they were personally welcomed by congregants before or after the service (56 percent). Close to half say they were personally welcomed by pastors or ministers before or after the service (48 percent).

More than a third were asked to fill out an information card by hand (36 percent).

Fewer were invited to attend social events outside of service (23 percent), formally recognised during the service (19 percent), asked to fill out an information card electronically (12 percent), encouraged to introduce themselves (10 percent) or asked to text the church (6 percent).

And three percent of churchgoers said they were not welcomed in any of these ways.

Church switchers today are less likely than those in 2006 to say they were personally welcomed by congregants (56 percent v. 67 percent).

They were also less likely to be asked to fill out a card by hand (36 percent v. 62 percent) or contacted by a welcoming team (21 percent v. 28 percent).

Switchers in 2006 were not asked about the option to provide information electronically or by text.

Nearly four in five (79 percent) of those who have switched churches agree that how the church welcomed visitors positively impacted their decisions to attend regularly, with 49 percent strongly agreeing and 30 percent somewhat agreeing.

More than three in four churchgoers who experienced each of the welcoming approaches said it positively impacted their decision to attend regularly.

"Personally welcoming visitors, inviting them to social events and contacting them after the worship service all coincide with better impressions of a church's welcoming approach than churches that did not do these things," McConnell said.

"You can't take a week off when it comes to genuinely welcoming newcomers."

Important factors

For most regular churchgoers who have changed churches, their current church's beliefs and doctrines (86 percent) and preaching (86 percent) were important in their decision to attend that church. Fifty-six percent said its beliefs and doctrines were extremely important and 50 percent said the preaching was extremely important.

Although fewer identify these factors as extremely important, at least four in five churchgoers say factors including the authenticity of church members and pastor (84 percent), care for community (82 percent), unity among members (82 percent) and worship style (80 percent) are important or extremely important factors.

Many also say the evidence of God's work and changed lives (78 percent), building relationships with members (76 percent), learning biblical truth (74 percent) and music (68 percent) were at least important factors in their decision to attend their current church.

Worship times (68 percent), location (67 percent), denomination (64 percent), opportunities to serve (62 percent), low pressure to commit (61 percent), acquaintances among church members (61 percent) and church members similar to them (59 percent) were also considered at least important factors in their decision to attend their current church.

Other factors were less important for churchgoers looking for a new church. Less than half (49 percent) said age-appropriate children's programs were important or extremely important, and 27 percent said it was neither important nor unimportant.

Many were also neutral (34 percent) about the importance of the church's size, while 40 percent said it was important or extremely important.

More than two in five (42 percent) churchgoers said little use of religious jargon was neither important nor unimportant to them, and 37 percent said it was important or extremely important.

Those whose church switch accompanied a residential move were more likely than those whose did not to say location (70 percent v. 62 percent), denomination (67 percent v. 60 percent) and church members similar to them (62 percent v. 53 percent) were important or extremely important factors in choosing their current church.

• Marissa Postell Sullivan is the managing editor for Lifeway Research.
• First published in Religion Unplugged

The Katholiek Nieuwsblad survey was conducted three years after the initial lockdown in the Netherlands.

It has confirmed the decline in church attendance from pre-pandemic levels.

The decline, already predicted by many, shows between 2019 and 2022, there was a drop of up to 36 percent in weekend church attendance.

"If you calculate this through, you end up with an average decline of about 14 percent per year, whereas in the years before the pandemic the decline averaged about six percent," said researcher Joris Kregting.

What wasn't anticipated though was that the number of church volunteers also sharply declined.

In the first year of COVID, that number dropped 10 percent. In previous years the decline was three to four percent annually.

"With churchgoers, the interruption caused by COVID may be temporary, with volunteers, quitting is more likely to be permanent," Kregting noted.

Right now, Dutch parishes have the greatest difficulty finding new volunteers, he added.

Besides speaking to researchers and professionals working in parish pastoral ministry, Katholiek Nieuwsblad also conducted an online survey.

They targeted Catholic parishioners in the Low Countries about their experience of the effects of the pandemic.

They heard from 43.8 percent that parish church attendance was slightly less than before the pandemic. According to 23.4 percent, attendance was much less.

However, 78.8 percent stated that they themselves still attend church about as often as before the pandemic.

It is likely though that the survey was completed mainly by active churchgoers. It does not claim to be representative of the entire Catholic community.

The survey results show a sharp contrast in the personal valuation of COVID effects.

It found effects most often valued as positive were also perceived as negative: they include digital developments and non-contact sign of peace.

The survey responses suggest the opposite views might be indicative of a polarisation that has also taken place within the Church community in the Netherlands.

"This madness has created only an even greater divide between people," wrote one participant. Another complained of "inhumane and un-Christian" reactions toward anti-vax believers.

At the same time, churchgoers and church workers also see the pandemic's positive effects in parish life.

One said they got to know a lot more people.

Many survey respondents noted a similar positive social effect.

One wrote about lists of names leading to a welcoming group - who could greet people by name - being created.

Deepening faith and attending to the Church's missionary aspect were other often mentioned positive effects.

Many remarked positively on the additional emphasis on the essentials of the faith during the liturgy and growth in personal devotion and participation in the sacraments.

"The first time together again with people in the same church, praying aloud the Lord's Prayer, the Gloria and the Creed made a deep impression on me," one respondent wrote.

A priest noted livestream celebrations, in particular, lowered the threshold of parishes for those interested.

"The Church itself is mission. COVID has helped to bring more attention to this."

Source

• Crux

Add to them, the lengths some have gone to, to continue some form of liturgical practice, and then there is the absence of those who have yet to return to Church.

"Globally, the coronavirus is probably the most disruptive event impacting liturgy since the Second Vatican Council", Dr Joe Grayland told CathNews.

"In New Zealand and around the globe we were unable to celebrate the end of Lent, Holy Week, the Paschal Triduum, and most of Eastertide and it continues to disrupt".

The impact of Vatican II has lasted fifty years, but in some places, it took up to ten years to implement. Even the recent translation of the liturgy into English was implemented over a period of years, he said.

"By comparison, the global impact of the Coronavirus was almost instant", he said.

"It only takes one community outbreak somewhere in New Zealand and the lifetime faith practises of many are once again disrupted".

Click to take part in Learning from liturgical disruption survey.

Grayland, a Doctor of Theology in liturgical science, says liturgical disruption came as part of the experience of social disruption and physical distancing and he is looking to see if there is anything the Church can learn from it.

He is inviting readers of CathNews in New Zealand and around the world to complete a survey which is part of his ongoing research into New Zealand's liturgical life.

The survey asks questions about your experience during levels three and four; when either church attendance numbers were severely restricted or people were prevented from going to Church.

He is keen for you to assess the impacts of the liturgical disruption on your parish and your personal prayer life during, and since then.

The survey covers topics such as online worship and your experience of it, the impact of restrictions on church services, diocesan and parish communication during the lockdown and ensuing disruption the impact on parish life and how you might see the future.

It asks whether you think the decision to close churches was the right one and asks if you think the contemporary parish structure can withstand this change.

Grayland says all responses are anonymous and the survey should take between 8 and 10 minutes to complete.

It can be taken either on a computer or mobile device.

It gained positive attention this month through a video ad about Internet pornography, using their motif of every parent's worst Internet nightmare knocking on their front door.

"What is interesting about the New Zealand ad is that its offbeat, waggish attitude makes the problem of pornography approachable and less distressing.," write Sean Fitzpatrick in a post on Catholic Exchange.

"Without detracting from the seriousness of the issue, the ad dodges being condemnatory, preachy, or alarmist.

It is a true piece of satire, rendering the problem of pornography in a humorous light and therefore in a palatable light while levelling a practical and persuasive challenge to parents."

A new study published last month by The Broadcasting Standard Authority and NZ On Air found that while the rates of young people accessing harmful content were high, supervision from parents and caregivers had improved dramatically.

The Children's Media Use Study found:

• 87 per cent of children aged 10-14 had viewed television content that they found upsetting in the previous 12 months
• 72 per cent had seen it on the Internet and 54 per cent had heard it on the radio
• 20 per cent of parents reported this exposure resulted in nightmares or disrupted sleep
• 19 per cent said their children copied aggressive behaviour
• 15 per cent said they engaged in behaviour inappropriate for their age
• 30 per cent of parents reported their children had learned inappropriate words from the content
• 48 per cent of children said they knew how to change channels or click out of a website if they were disturbed by what they saw

BSA chief executive Belinda Moffat said they had seen "quite a big increase" in ways parents would limit and supervise the viewing their children had.

Source

• catholicexchange.com
• BSA NZA Study
• stuff.co.nz
• tvnz.co.nz
• Image: Screenshot bsa.govt.nz

The survey also claims that less than 50 percent of Guam's population now identify as Catholic.

According to the 2010 Census about 75 percent of the population was Catholic and 17 percent Protestant, with the remainder identifying as other denominations.

The survey was written and circulated through social media by a local deacon who remains anonymous. It asks for "positive responses only."

The deacon says it is being taken to gather information for a white paper he and a group of laymen are preparing to present to the archbishop.

It asks respondents what they would like the Archdiocese of Agaña to look like in the year 2028?

Tony Diaz, communications director for the archdiocese said Byrnes knows about it and supports it.

"The archbishop and archdiocese welcome it as we try to unite across all fronts and move forward," Diaz said on behalf of Byrnes.

"It's a journey that's going to take many, many steps but we're grateful for the many individuals helping."

"Through a grass-roots effort, the deacon hopes the community will contribute their vision of the archdiocese 10 years down the line."

157 lawsuits have been filed in Guam alleging instances of sexual abuse.

Pope Francis placed the Archbishop of Agaña Anthony Apuron on leave in June 2016 after accusations of sexual abuse were made against him.

Apuron, who continues to deny the accusations, was tried by a Vatican court. A verdict is awaited.

Apuron was present at a papal audience on February 7.

The Vatican Insider claimed that when Apuron personally greeted the Pope at the end of the audience, he told the Pope, "Holy Father, I wanted to see you before I die."

Source

• postguam.com
• RNZ
• catholicregister.org
• Image: CNS/Erik de Castro Reuters

Over 10,000 people take part in the annual Scottish Government study, which is designed to give a general view of the country's demographics.

While 51 per cent of Scots don't belong to any religion, just under 14 per cent of Scottish adults identify as being Catholic.

The Church of Scotland remains the most popular group with 24 per cent of those surveyed identifying as Presbyterian. Read more

While most have at least one or two people they are close to, one per cent of Kiwis aged 15 or over say they have no supportive family or friends, according to research from Statistics NZ.

The New Zealand General Social Survey (NZGSS), conducted over a year, asked almost 9000 respondents whether they had any friends or family who helped and supported them.

Continue reading

The survey, taken by 1,000 people in 64 countries respectively, puts the popularity of the Pope above US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande.

Francis achieved a net score of +41 - the difference between favourable and unfavourable opinions - 11 points ahead of closest rival President Obama, who achieved +30.

Citizens in countries around the world were asked: "Irrespective of your own religion, do you have a very favourable, somewhat favourable, somewhat unfavourable or very unfavourable opinion of Pope Francis?"

Five out of 10 respondents (54 per cent) hold favourable views compared with 12 per cent unfavourable.

The regions where the Pope is held in highest esteem are perhaps unsurprising: his Latin American homeland, North America and Europe. Portugal has the highest number of individuals with a positive view of the Pope, followed by the Philippines.

Continue Reading

New research among UK undertakers has shown that some of the most popular items put in coffins include packets of cigarettes, cans of beer or bags of lollies.

Many people are buried with their favourite football scarf, or accompanied by letters or teddy bears with deep personal value, according to a survey of funeral directors.

One undertaker recounted how one of their clients was even buried with a cardboard cut-out of the Dr Who actor David Tennant.

And, with echoes of the ancient Egyptian practice of mummifying cats, birds and crocodiles, one of the most common choices is to be buried alongside the cremated remains of a much-loved pet.

At the same time funeral directors reported a marked decline from the use of hymns and Christian readings amid a shift away from church funerals and a trend for more "personal" send-offs.

This echoes developments in wedding fashions.

The burial trends emerged from a survey of undertakers carried out as part of a wider study of funeral practices in Britain by the insurer SunLife.

The survey showed that 55 per cent of undertakers had noticed a decrease in the use of hymns at funerals in recent years.

And 52 per cent said the same of religious readings - a decline mirrored by increases in the use of secular music and poetry.

One in five said they had noticed a rise in the number of people asking to be buried with a specific item.

Dorset funeral director Anthony O'Hara said: "You see anything from someone's favourite perfume to cheques that will never be cashed, typically family photos to love letters from the war that have been kept for years."

"People now put mobile phones in with a message ‘ring us when you get there'."

But he said that while in ancient Egypt and other cultures people were buried with items representing their status, modern Britons are simply buried with things which represent them personally.

Sources

• The Telegraph
• Image: Ahmed Amirudden blog

Portsmouth diocese is working with St Mary's University on the scheme called "share your story".

The survey will be conducted between October 1 and January 1 and will ask questions such as whether people agree with Church doctrine or not and whether they felt welcome or not.

The survey takes 15 minutes and can be done anonymously.

Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth said he hopes the survey will help enlighten priests and laity about the challenges the Church faces in the contemporary world.

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A survey of 342 people, mostly Catholic, earlier this year by A Call To Action describes a widening gap between Church teaching on sexual and family ethics and the opinion and practice of many of the faithful.

Some 85 per cent of respondents rejected the Church's ban on contraception and 88 per cent rejected the Church's policy of refusing access to the sacraments for the divorced and remarried.

And 94 per cent agreed that the Church needed to be more welcoming to those in irregular relationships.

Sermons about family life were singled out by respondents as not being very helpful.

Respondents called for a more welcoming, family-friendly Church, less clerical and more open to lay involvement.

Lead author of a report on the survey, Andrew Hornsby-Smith said: "These issues are strangling the future of the Church at a time when the clergy is ageing and numbers are falling."

"There are some real opportunities, but the Church leadership needs to modernise its policies, become more family friendly, and encourage lay involvement."

The authors of the report said the project was conducted "in a spirit of critical loyalty".

The authors admit, "It would be incorrect to claim that these results are a representative sample of churchgoers".

Many of the respondents were older and white.

Nearly half (49.4 per cent) of those who completed the survey were more than 71 years old, while 37.6 per cent were in the 56-70 age bracket.

Objection to a question on abortion reportedly resulted in a reduced the availability of the survey.

The report has been given to the Catholic bishops of England and Wales as part of the Church's preparations for the Synod on the Family in Rome in October.

Sources

• Christian Today
• Lifesitenews
• Independent Catholic News
• Image: Beads with Faith

Catholic Church Reform International has created its own alternative 20-question survey which is open to Catholics worldwide.

The reform network is made up of representatives of more than 100 groups in 65 countries.

At the extraordinary synod last October, bishops created a working document (lineamenta) that included 46 questions on a range of topics, including marriage and sexuality.

In compiling their own reports on those topics, bishops were asked to consult with clergy, laity and relevant institutions.

Part of the reason for the alternative synod survey, the reform group said, is a "deep concern over deficiencies" in the lineamenta questionnaire, which they called "self-defeating".

The group said the latest survey - whether intentionally or not - "seems designed to thwart" an open flow of feedback from everyday families.

"The questionnaire is far too complex and, with its abstract language and juridical views of marriage, it is largely incomprehensible to even the most well educated Catholics. It will not gather the much-need input from Catholic families themselves," they said in an open letter to Pope Francis last month.

The reform group acknowledged progress at the extraordinary synod and its preceding questionnaire.

The reform group's alternative survey closes on March 9, but could be extended if demand is high enough.

The survey asks respondents to rank on a five-point scale the Church's effectiveness on a range of issues including the pastoral care of co-habiting couples, interreligious families, LGBT persons and their families, single-parent families, and couples using contraceptives.

Other questions ask how the Church fares in reaching out to Catholics who have left the Church, and how family relationships can be strengthened.

A report will be sent to the Vatican summarising the responses.

This report will be published on the reform group's website.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

The surveys come ahead of October's synod on the family.

The concise survey has been produced by Strong Catholic Families, a group made up of four organisations which minister to families and youth.

Its results will not form part of the official feedback to the Vatican.

But they will be published at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress on March 14.

Responses to the Strong Catholic Families survey will be used in the initiative's future presentations, resource materials and discussions with Church leaders in the United States.

On its first day, the survey had 400 responses.

Continue reading

This is the finding of a survey of clergy views carried out by the Association of Catholic Clergy (ACP) in Ireland.

The survey also showed a significant percentage of priests still use texts from a 1973 missal.

Views were taken from 191 priests, who were randomly selected from the alphabetical listing of clergy in Ireland.

The survey was taken between March 31 and April 11.

It shows 35 per cent of priests surveyed favour replacing the current translation immediately and 45 per cent "as soon as a revised missal becomes available".

Close to two thirds of those surveyed said they were either dissatisfied (33.5 per cent) or very dissatisfied (27.2 per cent) with the missal.

This compared with just a quarter who were either very satisfied (4.7 per cent) or satisfied (19.9 per cent).

Even among those who were satisfied, more than half wanted to see a revised missal within a few years.

Some 147 respondents said they used texts from the new missal exclusively, 32 used a combination of texts from the new missal and a 1973 missal, while ten priests used text solely from the latter.

The findings of the survey were presented to three Irish bishops.

The ACP asked the bishops to encourage parish councils to express their views on the missal and, if possible, to survey those views.

Fr Sean McDonagh, SSC, a linguist who attended a meeting between the ACP and the bishops, said one bishop expressed surprise at the survey findings.

Fr McDonagh called on bishops in England and Wales to conduct a similar survey among their priests and people

The full text in English of the new translation of the Mass was introduced in Advent, 2011.

Before and during its implementation there were complaints from clergy and laity that the translation was too literal, with antiquated words and over-long sentences.

The new missal was translated according to Liturgiam Authenticam, issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2001.

This called for a more direct translation from the Latin to vernacular languages.

Sources

• The Tablet
• The Journal
• Association of Catholic Priests (survey)
• Catholic Herald
• Image: Mullingar Parish

Like many others, I have been answering the questionnaire put out by the Vatican in preparation for the Extraordinary Synod on the Family to be held next October. In fact, even non-Catholics can have their say, since the questionnaire and ways to get one's answers into the responses that bishops' conferences will send to Rome are available to anyone with access to the internet.

Unfortunately, the questionnaire was not developed with respondents like us in mind.

It is a typical Vatican pre-synod questionnaire intended for bishops. In fact, it even contains Latin.

Such questionnaires are not really intended to gather information.

They are one of the things on the checklist of the synod preparatory committee and are done simply because they are supposed to be done. Therefore, the questions are not prepared by social scientists who actually know how to prepare surveys that elicit usable information.

However, like many others who are attempting to decipher the questions and answer them, I think this first feeble attempt at soliciting the reflections of the whole people of God deserves cooperation and encouragement.

Perhaps next time, we will see something better.

For the most part, the questions are innocuous. But one stands out for its breathtaking irresponsibility: "How can an increase in births be promoted?"

Are they serious?

There are already seven billion people on the planet and we continue to increase. Resources are being depleted. Other species of animals as well as plants are being driven to extinction by the pressure of human numbers.

Global warming results from the burning of fossil fuels to provide power for living, transportation and manufacture. The increased demand for power means increasing reliance upon dangerous nuclear power. Air, water and soil are being degraded. Food shortages occur in precisely those areas with the greatest population pressure. People are driven to live in urban slums in a search of a livelihood.

Children are born, but die before getting a chance to live in much more than a biological sense. Malnutrition and the diseases of poverty cripple others.

Social, health and educational services are inadequate to ensure a truly human life. Crowding increases crime, unrest, oppression, war and a general uglification of the human environment.

For the Church to call for an increase in births is not just stupid, it is immoral.

Catholic social teaching stresses the importance of the common good. What common good is advanced by merely increasing our numbers?

Quality of life, not quantity

Contrary to what some people seem to think, the Catholic Church does not oppose family planning.

Pope Paul VI's Humanae Vitae forbids particular "artificial" methods of regulating births and has given rise to a Catholic cottage industry of "natural family planning."

But, whatever dispute there may be over methods - and for the most part there is no dispute because Catholics have opted to ignore the teaching - the fact is that the Church can encourage intelligent and responsible limitation of family size even without retreating from Pope Paul's teaching.

Instead of asking how we can increase births, the Catholic Church should be a world leader in calling for responsible family planning that will ensure that all people who are born have a chance to live beyond age five and have access to the food, healthcare and education that will enable them to live with the dignity of the children of God.

Among other things, that means changing our economic systems and priorities, because economic development and security for all increases the number of healthy births while reducing the overall number of births.

Essential to such change is the education and empowerment of women.

Yes, there are parts of the world where the population is declining. I live in one of them. But, to be Catholic means to consider the whole world as home and to take each and all of the world's people into account as brothers and sisters.

To speak of human births as simply a matter of multiplying people without responsibly dealing with what that multiplication means for those people and God's world is to speak like an animal breeder.

The Church must be concerned with people as the children of God, not with numbers.

But on the other hand, if people at the Vatican really think we should be increasing the number of births, perhaps one way to do so might be for them to abandon the requirement of celibacy for the clergy.

- Fr William Grimm is publisher of ucanews.com based in Tokyo. Article first published in ucanews.com. Used with permission.

So far around 5,000 people from England and Wales have filled in the survey.

Elizabeth Davies, marriage and family life project officer, told the Catholic Herald that 15,000 people had accessed the survey so far but only a third of those had submitted responses to the questions.

About 11,500 had got as far as filling in their age.

She said a few responses had been "a bit mischievous" and some respondents had declared themselves to be non-Catholic. She emphasised, though, that the responses had been "very thoughtful".

Talking with BBC Breakfast, Archbishop Nichols society has moved to a different perspective on some issues.

"The Pope has led us to pay attention to the experiences of people," said Archbishop Nichols.

"On the one hand we must work to follow Christ, but on the other hand we have to face all of the ambitions of modern living."

"Listening never did us any harm," he said.

"God gave us one mouth and two ears. The fact that we may hear things that make us uncomfortable - that's fine."

The Council of the Synod of Bishops with the full backing of Pope Francis wants to get input from the Church's grassroots.

Rather than getting "a synthesis of what the bishops think on a subject" the purpose of the survey is" to get the pulse of the grassroots of the base of the Church", Archbishop Bruno Forte, secretary for the 2014 extraordinary synod synod on marriage and family, told Catholic Universe.

Sources

• BBC
• Catholic Herald
• Catholic Universe
• Image: Catholic News

More than a year after the new Mass translation was introduced, 70 per cent of the clergy who responded said they wanted to see the text revised.

Catholics in the United Kingdom and Ireland were more critical than their counterparts in the United States.

New Zealand responses were not tabulated separately, but Australian responses were. Of these, 60 per cent said their attitude was: "Before it was introduced I was apprehensive about it and I still don't like it."

There was strong agreement by 56 per cent of the Australians with the statement "Some of the florid language is obsequious and distracting" and 66 per cent did not like "begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father".

Overall, 47 per cent of respondents said they liked the new Mass and 51 per cent said they did not. There was an almost equal split between those who considered the new translation more prayerful and reverent (48 per cent) and those who did not (49 per cent).

There was a significantly high 19 per cent of respondents (heavily weighted towards the US) who expressed a preference for the traditionalist Extraordinary Form over the Ordinary Form of the Mass.

Among priests, 22 per cent preferred the new translation. There was strong opposition to "consubstantial" (67 per cent), "for many" (63 per cent), "chalice" (61 per cent), and "through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault" (60 per cent).

Commenting on the results, Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, chairman of the Vox Clara advisory committee on liturgical translations, said it would be misleading to speak of a polarisation.

He said it was interesting that those who were apprehensive before the texts appeared generally felt their fears were justified.

Cardinal Pell said the new text "escapes the banalities of some of the older translation" and he recommended "patience and repetition" to produce a spiritual deepening.

Source:

The Tablet

Image: Washington Post

The most respected heroes and icons are Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Sir Edmund Hillary, Mahatma Ghandi and Nelson Mandela. Jesus and God are the highest ranking religious figures.

Youthtown commissioned Point Research to perform the online survey of 800 New Zealand teens, asking 55 questions about their lives, relationships and futures. The "Voice of New Zealand' survey aimed to find a youth voice to discover more about how young people really feel about themselves, what they think and what matters most to them.

The qualities youth admire in their role models are skill, success, intelligence, personality, perseverance and values and beliefs.

Researcher Alex Woodley says it shows the country's youth hold strong values and aren't simply aspiring to be rich and famous.

"It's the values of perseverance and working hard to be successful. They want to contribute to a better world and the role models they are looking up to are different from the role models we are expecting them to look up to. The values they hold strongly are really positive values," Ms Woodley said.

Source:

• Scoop
• Image: Youthtown