This article, appearing in The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, discusses various efforts being made by Milwaukee-area churches (Catholic and non-Catholic) to attract men back to the pews. The concern is that men are, for some mysterious reason, checking out from liturgy or other Christian services. Some of the more, um, interesting solutions and ideas involve church-into-man-cave transformations, or a North Woods-inspired sanctuary or “gathering space”. Is that all it takes? Will a sacred space that more resembles a Cabela’s store than a church reverse the exodus of men from our local churches? I have my doubts.continue at Cream City Catholic
According to a statistic presented in the article, the male/female discrepancy is especially felt in the Catholic Church, where 64% of parish life is comprised of women.
So why are the guys MIA?
This is another one of those instances within our local Church where you have a lot of people who subscribe to the conventional wisdom scratching their heads and asking “Why? Why? Why?” when the answer is not particularly elusive. This really isn’t a surprise to me, or to many others.
Photo and a great article from Rorate Caeli: The Devirilization of the Liturgy
2 comments:
We are trying to make a real difference for Catholic men in the Church here http://beingcatholic.com.au/men_invite
I especially liked this:
"What’s more, many of the “liturgical planning committees” have been taken over by women. The embellishments of many church buildings often look like a Jo-Ann Fabric was detonated inside. Pastel ribbons, crafts, baskets, streamers, quilts…BOOM!"
So true.
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