Why Is the Church Losing Influence?

“Every Stoic was a Stoic; but in Christendom where is the Christian?”

RALPH WALDO EMERSON, 19TH-CENTURY AMERICAN ESSAYIST AND POET.

“I’M A Catholic—but not a practicing one,” explains a young mother. “I couldn’t care less about religion,” a teenager adds. Their comments are typical of the younger generation of Europeans. Although their parents—or more likely their grandparents—are still churchgoers, religious faith has not bridged the generation gap.

Why have the religious habits held dear by generations of Europeans been abandoned?

Fear No Longer a Factor

For centuries fear of hellfire or purgatory exerted a powerful influence on Europeans. Fiery sermons and graphic church paintings of an inextinguishable burning hell persuaded the laity that only pious church attendance could save them from damnation. Further, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “the Church obliges the faithful ‘to take part in the Divine Liturgy on Sundays and feast days.’”a In rural areas social pressure was also considerable—everybody was expected to attend church on Sundays.

But times have changed. People now feel at liberty to do what they want. Fear is no longer a factor. Hell has been quietly swept under the carpet, since most European Catholics do not believe in it anyway.

In practice, the “sin” of skipping Sunday Mass is not taken too seriously. Tirso Vaquero, a Catholic priest in Madrid, Spain, admits: “If a Christian [Catholic] doesn’t come to Mass on Sunday, we are sincerely sorry because he has lost this moment of communication with God and his brothers, not because he has committed a sin. That is secondary.”

So fear no longer instills devotion. What about the moral authority of the church and its leaders—can they command the loyalty of their flocks?

A Crisis of Authority

The demise of religious fear has coincided with a marked deterioration in the church’s moral standing. “For centuries we have had . . . so many teachers of morals and so few moral teachers,” complains Italian historian Giordano Bruno Guerri. This lack of moral leadership was highlighted by the two world wars that devastated Christendom. The European churches were powerless to prevent believers from engaging in the bloodfest. Even worse, the churches became actively involved in the war effort—on both sides.

“The First World War, a civil war among the Christian sects, opened a period of tragedy and shame for Christianity,” observes historian Paul Johnson. “The Second World War inflicted even more grievous blows on the moral standing of the Christian faith than the First. It exposed the emptiness of the churches in Germany, the cradle of the Reformation, and the cowardice and selfishness of the Holy See.”

Vatican concordats with the Nazi regime of Hitler and the Fascist governments of Mussolini in Italy and Franco in Spain also damaged the church’s moral authority. In the long run, the religious price for such political expediency was a loss of credibility.

Church and State—Untying the Knot

During the 20th century, most European countries have finally untied the knot binding Church and State. In fact, no major European country now recognizes Roman Catholicism as its official religion.

Although the dominant churches may still be state subsidized, they have lost the political influence they used to wield. Not all churchmen have come to terms with this new reality. Prominent Spanish Jesuit José María Díez-Alegría believes that “the leaders of the [Catholic] church think—many of them in all sincerity—that they cannot exercise their pastoral duty without a human platform of ‘power.’”

But this “human platform of ‘power’” has collapsed. Spain, which had a “national-Catholic” government until 1975, exemplifies this situation. In recent years the Spanish hierarchy has had a running battle with the Socialist government over church funding. The bishop of Teruel, Spain, recently complained to his parishioners that he feels “persecuted as a Catholic” because the Spanish government is not giving sufficient financial support to the church.

In 1990 the Spanish bishops announced that a “grave crisis of conscience and morality” was affecting Spanish society. Who did they blame for this ‘moral crisis’? The bishops claimed that one of the principal causes was the “ambiguous mentality frequently promoted by the public administration [the Spanish government].” Apparently, the bishops expect the government to promote Catholic ideology as well as provide subsidies.

Do Clergymen Practice What They Preach?

The enormous wealth of the Catholic Church has always been an embarrassment to priests who work in impoverished parishes. It was even more embarrassing when the Vatican Bank was implicated in what Time magazine called “the worst financial scandal in postwar Italy.” In 1987, warrants were issued by Italian magistrates for the arrest of an archbishop and two other Vatican bank officials. Because of the Vatican’s special sovereign status, however, the accused churchmen avoided arrest. The Vatican Bank insisted that no wrongdoing had been committed but failed to erase the impression that the church was not practicing what it preaches.—Compare Matthew 23:3.

Highly publicized sexual misconduct has done even more damage. In May 1992 an Irish bishop, well-known for his endorsement of celibacy, asked his diocese to “forgive him” and “pray for him.” He was forced to resign after it came to light that he was the father of a 17-year-old boy and had used church funds to pay for his education. A month earlier a Catholic priest appeared on German television with his “companion” and their two children. He said he wished to “open a dialogue” on the matter of the clandestine liaisons that so many priests maintain.

The scandals inevitably leave their mark. Historian Guerri, in his book Gli italiani sotto la Chiesa (The Italians Under the Church), asserts that “for centuries the Church has scandalized Italians.” One result, he says, is the “development of widespread anticlericalism, even among the faithful.” Indignant Catholics may feel tempted to ask their clergy the same questions the apostle Paul put to the Romans: “You preach against stealing, for example, but are you sure of your own honesty? You denounce the practice of adultery, but are you sure of your own purity?”—Romans 2:21, 22, Phillips.

The Gulf Between Clergy and Laity

A less obvious but possibly more debilitating problem is the chasm between the clergy and the laity. Pastoral letters from the bishops seem to irritate rather than instruct parishioners. In a Spanish survey, only 28 percent of those interviewed “agreed with the bishops’ statements.” An equal number “couldn’t care less,” and 18 percent said they “don’t understand what they [the bishops] are talking about.” Archbishop Ubeda of Majorca, Spain, admitted: “We bishops must also accept our share of responsibility in the process of dechristianization—which is a fact.”

The lack of a clear Scriptural message further alienates the laity. According to the Catholic Herald, “many priests [in France] have opted for political action in order to be ‘relevant,’” even though most of their parishioners would prefer them to concentrate on spiritual matters. Italian priest and sociologist Silvano Burgalassi admits: “Perhaps they [young people] have withdrawn from God because of our bad example. We have given them a ‘potpourri’ of compromise, religion and business, selfishness and adulteration.” Not surprisingly, priests are losing their social status. “I’m a Catholic, but I don’t believe in the priests” is an expression often heard from Spanish Catholics.

Some Catholics find it hard to confide in the clergy, and others have serious doubts about church doctrine—especially those teachings they consider unreasonable or impractical.

Incomprehensible Doctrines

A glaring example is official Catholic teaching on the subject of hell. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity.” Nevertheless, recent surveys indicate that only a quarter of French Catholics and a third of their Spanish counterparts believe that hell exists.

Likewise, when it comes to moral issues, Europeans tend to be “do-it-yourself Christians.” Mimmi, a teenage Lutheran from Sweden, believes that moral questions, such as having children out of wedlock, are “something to decide for oneself.” Most French Catholics would agree with her. When faced with important decisions in life, 80 percent said they would follow the guidance of their conscience rather than that of the church.

In the past the authority of the church was sufficient to stifle any dissident voice. From the Vatican’s viewpoint, little has changed. The Catechism adamantly states that “all that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church.” The authoritarian approach, however, finds little support. “The argument of authority reigns unchecked,” complains Antonio Elorza, a Spanish professor of political studies. “The Church prefers to build a walled tower, consecrating the validity of her tradition in the face of history.” Outside the “walled tower,” the church’s influence and its authority continue to wane.

Apart from spiritual decadence, social causes are another important factor contributing to religious indifference. The consumer society provides a host of entertainment and recreational opportunities—and most Europeans have the will and the way to savor them. By comparison, going to church seems a dull way to spend Sunday morning. Besides, church services rarely seem to come to grips with the spiritual needs of people.

It seems unlikely that traditional religion will regain its hold over the European flock. Is religion a force of the past—destined to go the way of the dinosaur?

[Footnote]

[Blurb on page 6]

The cult of leisure has conquered Christendom’s heartland

[Picture on page 7]

When faced with the choice of a sermon or a suntan, most Europeans unhesitatingly head for the beach