Churches we build only by our own efforts and not in the strength of the Spirit will quickly collapse when we don't push and prod people along.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
If indeed this is the work of God... then it's a crisis that calls for the church to be its very best self, and not worry about risking itself for the right thing.
No one can fail to see that the power of the Church among large numbers in many communities is today diminishing, or has already ceased.
Instead of being just a church that welcomes and receives by keeping the doors open, let us try also to be a church that finds new roads, that is able to step outside itself and go to those who do not attend Mass, to those who have quit or are indifferent.
Churches, by the very reason of their structures, are monolithic and do not adapt easily. But in many cases, they, too, have allowed themselves to become allied or even part of an unjust establishment or system.
You take the best of our tradition as a start, and I'll take the best of Christianity ... From there we can build.
What's true for churches is true for other institutions: the older and more organized they get, the less adaptable they become. That's why the most resilient things in our world - biological life, stock markets, the Internet - are loosely organized.
American churches work very hard at reaching out to people to bring them in.
Churches can become places of cynicism, resistance, and pessimism.
The imminent demise of the church has been predicted since the middle of the 18th century. This is the regular secular mantra if churchgoing declines. I could take you to plenty of churches that are full to bursting and new churches being built.
Let Catholics build their own churches and works.