Pope in Quebec amid decline of Catholic Church in province
Pope Francis arrived in Quebec on Wednesday at a time when many French Canadians in the province are not only moving away from religion but explicitly rejecting it, embracing secularization long after their forebears built their identity on the rock of the Catholic Church.
Pews these days are rarely filled, hundreds of churches have closed and the provincial government has banned public service workers from wearing religious symbols.
“A lot churches are closing, and it’s very telling about the fading support that the population gives to the church,” said Jean-François Roussel, a theology professor at the Université de Montréal. “Some people are talking about the collapse of the Catholic Church in Quebec.”
Although nearly all of the province’s 6.8 million French speakers have Catholic roots, fewer than 10% attend Mass regularly, compared with 90% several decades ago.
In 2003 there were 2,746 Catholic churches in Quebec. Since then 713 have been closed, demolished or converted, according to the Quebec Religious Heritage Council. Cardinal Gerald Lacroix of Quebec said last year the number of churches in the province is not sustainable.
“The number of new priests does not exceed 10 per year. This leads to a profound restructuring of parishes and dioceses,” said E.-Martin Meunier, a sociologist of religion at the University of Ottawa.
Today, Quebec’s government is staunchly secular, embracing policy and industry that seemingly runs counter to Catholicism’s conservative sexual ethic. In 2004, the province legalized same-sex marriage. Montreal, the largest city, has a lively sex industry.
Clergy sex-abuse scandals also have tarnished the church. And the discovery of unmarked graves at the sites of church-run Indigenous boarding schools has further damaged it.
Current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Pierre’s son, publicly rebuked the church last year, saying he was “deeply disappointed” it had not offered a formal apology and made amends for its role in the schools where abuse was rampant.
https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-...3eb4de4e1f
Pope Francis arrived in Quebec on Wednesday at a time when many French Canadians in the province are not only moving away from religion but explicitly rejecting it, embracing secularization long after their forebears built their identity on the rock of the Catholic Church.
Pews these days are rarely filled, hundreds of churches have closed and the provincial government has banned public service workers from wearing religious symbols.
“A lot churches are closing, and it’s very telling about the fading support that the population gives to the church,” said Jean-François Roussel, a theology professor at the Université de Montréal. “Some people are talking about the collapse of the Catholic Church in Quebec.”
Although nearly all of the province’s 6.8 million French speakers have Catholic roots, fewer than 10% attend Mass regularly, compared with 90% several decades ago.
In 2003 there were 2,746 Catholic churches in Quebec. Since then 713 have been closed, demolished or converted, according to the Quebec Religious Heritage Council. Cardinal Gerald Lacroix of Quebec said last year the number of churches in the province is not sustainable.
“The number of new priests does not exceed 10 per year. This leads to a profound restructuring of parishes and dioceses,” said E.-Martin Meunier, a sociologist of religion at the University of Ottawa.
Today, Quebec’s government is staunchly secular, embracing policy and industry that seemingly runs counter to Catholicism’s conservative sexual ethic. In 2004, the province legalized same-sex marriage. Montreal, the largest city, has a lively sex industry.
Clergy sex-abuse scandals also have tarnished the church. And the discovery of unmarked graves at the sites of church-run Indigenous boarding schools has further damaged it.
Current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Pierre’s son, publicly rebuked the church last year, saying he was “deeply disappointed” it had not offered a formal apology and made amends for its role in the schools where abuse was rampant.
https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-...3eb4de4e1f
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
