c. 2004 Religion News Service
Survey: Percentage of `Unchurched’ Adults Up Sharply Since 1991
(RNS) The portion of adults who generally do not attend church has risen sharply in the last 13 years, a Barna Group study shows.
The percentage of Americans who are “unchurched” grew from 21 percent in 1991 to 34 percent in 2004.
Researchers defined unchurched as those who have not attended a church service in the past six months, other than for a holiday service, such as Easter or Christmas, or for a special event, such as a wedding or funeral.
In a typical week, unchurched people are less likely than all adults to read or to pray. Forty-four percent of adults said they read the Bible in a typical week, compared to 19 percent of those who are unchurched. Eighty-three percent of adults say they pray in a typical week, compared to 63 percent of unchurched adults.
While men comprise a bit less than half of the national population, they make up 55 percent of the unchurched. While 26 percent of American adults are single and have never married, 37 percent of the unchurched can be similarly described.
The study found that unchurched people tend to live in the Northeast and the West. While 42 percent of adults live in those regions, 51 percent of the unchurched live in those areas.
George Barna, the Ventura, Calif.-based researcher, said the unchurched tend to be independent and are less likely to commit to activities other than congregational gatherings.
“Evidence of this arm’s-length approach to life, beyond their refusal to participate in church life, includes lower levels of voter registration, less money donated to nonprofit organizations, fewer nonprofits supported, lower levels of media usage, and less engagement in community service activities,” he said in a statement.
The findings were based on telephone interviews of 1,014 adults in late January and early February. They had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Presbyterian Church (USA) Makes Additional Round of Cuts
(RNS) The Presbyterian Church (USA) laid off 28 people and cut nine vacant positions on May 7 in an effort to trim its two-year budget by $4.6 million.
The church’s General Assembly Council, which acts as a board of directors, made the cuts as part of a larger effort to streamline management and respond to shifts in giving from local congregations.
In the past two years, the church has eliminated at least 122 positions at its headquarters in Louisville, Ky. Similar cuts have been made by other mainline Protestant churches.
The revised budget, after the cuts, stands at $114.4 million.
Most of the 28 people who lost their jobs ended their work by May 6.
The cuts were spread among departments overseeing congregational ministries, national projects, missions support and the office of John Detterick, the director of the General Assembly Council.
“Their departure … tears at the fabric of our life around here,” said Kathy Lueckert, deputy director of the GAC. “We are grateful and thankful for the work they have done, and wish them Godspeed.”
Officials said the church continues to struggle against a sluggish economy. In addition, more money is being designated as “restricted gifts” for particular programs and cannot be used for the general budget.
“This is very painful, but we are moving on to something new,” Detterick told Presbyterian News Service. “There are better ways to get where God wants us to be, and we’ll find them.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
New Orleans Catholics: Gov. Blanco Reneged on Vouchers
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) The Archdiocese of New Orleans has accused Gov. Kathleen Blanco of breaking her promise to Archbishop Alfred Hughes and other Catholic leaders to support legislation that would enshrine in law a program giving low-income parents state money to send 1,500 children to private preschools.
But Blanco disputed the contention, saying she recalls making no assurances on the bill. Hughes declined to comment even as his spokesman was publicly saying the archbishop believes that Blanco reneged on her commitment.
The unusual public showdown between the archdiocese and the governor, who is Catholic, signaled an escalation in the highly emotional debate over vouchers, which also includes the powerful teacher unions and public education interests.
The bill failed on the Senate floor May 5 in the face of intense lobbying from the governor’s office, as well as opposition from teacher unions and other public school groups.
It was the second of two legislative defeats for voucher supporters, first among which is the archdiocese; it has made passage of such aid its top legislative priority.
The Rev. William Maestri, the archdiocese’s spokesman, said May 6 he personally briefed Blanco and her staff on the bill and on a related voucher bill during a March luncheon at the Governor’s Mansion.
The bill would have codified in law an $8.5 million program that sends 4-year-olds to prekindergarten classes in private or parochial schools. Blanco has said she supports the 3-year-old program and has included money for it in her 2004-05 fiscal year budget, but she opposes putting it into law, leaving it to the discretion of lawmakers and the governor each year.
An estimated 900 children use the program in New Orleans. Most attend Catholic schools, which offer themselves as alternatives to failing public schools.
The archdiocese and other voucher supporters say such programs are needed to rescue poor children from the state’s failing school systems. The administration’s allies on the issue include teacher unions and various education groups, which argue that vouchers would siphon desperately needed money from public schools. The American Civil Liberties Union also opposes it on separation of church and state grounds.
_ Bruce Nolan and Laura Maggi
New President Named for University of Notre Dame
(RNS) The Rev. John I. Jenkins was named the new president of the University of Notre Dame on April 30. He will take the reins of one of the nation’s largest and most prominent Catholic colleges on July 1, 2005.
Jenkins, 50, succeeds the Rev. Edward A. Malloy, who has been president since 1987. Malloy said he wants to return to teaching, writing and pastoral ministry.
Jenkins is a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross, which oversees Notre Dame. Since 2000, he has served as the university’s vice president and associate provost. For three years, he was the religious superior of the Holy Cross order at Notre Dame.
Jenkins holds two degrees in philosophy from Oxford University, a master of divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology and a master’s and bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame.
University officials praised Malloy for overseeing the South Bend, Ind., campus during a time of rapid growth.
“All one needs to do is to tour our campus, consult the rankings, examine the credentials of our faculty … to realize what he has accomplished for Notre Dame,” said Patrick McCartan, chair of the board of trustees. “He leaves a truly remarkable record and legacy.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Pope, Bush Expected to Discuss Iraq and Middle East at Vatican Audience
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II and President Bush are expected to discuss their differences over Iraq and the Middle East when they meet at a Vatican audience on June 4.
The White House confirmed the audience Monday (May 10), in effect refuting speculation by Italian newspapers that the pope was reluctant to meet with the American president because of his opposition to Bush administration policy and his desire to steer clear of U.S. politics in an election year.
Bush will arrive in the Italian capital early on June 4 for an overnight visit to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Rome by Allied forces. He will meet with Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as well as with the pope.
There was no announcement from the Vatican, but Vatican sources said John Paul probably would receive Bush in the late morning. It will be the third time they have met.
Although the pope and the president see eye-to-eye on right-to-life issues with the exception of capital punishment, which John Paul opposes, they are deeply divided over the U.S. decision to attack Iraq. John Paul also seeks more vigorous and even-handed action by Washington to end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East.
The pope has not made a public statement on the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal, but the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano has condemned the torture and degrading treatment of Iraqi prisoners by the U.S. and British military.
Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, the Vatican foreign minister, said in an interview with Italian television on May 7 that such conduct was “contrary to the most elementary human rights” and “radically contrary to Christian morals.”
The White House was forced to change the president’s schedule in order to arrange the papal audience, which is considered politically advantageous to Bush, whose presumptive Democratic opponent, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., is a Roman Catholic.
U.S. officials originally sought to schedule the papal audience for June 5, but the pope leaves early that morning for a long-planned, two-day visit to Bern, Switzerland.
_ Peggy Polk
Update: Northern Ireland’s Protestant Paramilitaries Urged to Disarm
LONDON (RNS) Loyalist (Protestant) paramilitaries in Northern Ireland were urged to disarm and disband by Anglican Archbishop Robin Eames of Armagh in a speech Tuesday (May 11), echoing a similar plea last week in London by his Catholic opposite number, Archbishop Sean Brady, and aimed at the Irish Republican Army.
Addressing the Church of Ireland’s general synod, meeting for the first time in Armagh, Eames said there were areas in Northern Ireland where life was dictated by and controlled by the godfathers of paramilitary organizations.
“It is their laws and their concepts of `justice’ which hold sway,” he said. “It is their protection rackets which dominate local businesses. It is their will which determines the lives of young people. It is their drugs which ruin young lives.”
Together, the two speeches by Eames and Brady represent some of the strongest criticisms by church leaders of the Catholic and Protestant militants who have been carrying on an armed struggle over the future of Northern Ireland.
Eames said the (Protestant) Unionist or Loyalist community frequently calls for a declaration from the Republican tradition that the war is over.
“While there is mounting pressure for such action, the community which makes this plea must also recognize realities within its own ranks,” the Anglican primate said.
“Loyalist paramilitarism cannot be excused simply because of (Catholic) Republican paramilitarism,” he said. “Loyalism cannot demand actions by Republicanism while remaining ambivalent about Loyalist paramilitaries. Armed gangs and so-called punishment beatings exist within Protestant areas.
“Roman Catholics continue to be attacked by thugs under the guise of Loyalism simply because of their religious identity,” he added. “Protestants are attacked because of their identity. Is that the way ordinary decent Protestants or Roman Catholics want to be represented?”
He said Loyalist paramilitaries do not speak for the vast number of members of the (Anglican) Church of Ireland in Northern Ireland. Calling on both communities to speak up and demand the end of paramilitary activity, Eames said: “Let criminal activity of whatever identity be seen for what it is: nothing to do with legitimate politics, nothing to do with protection of religious or political identity _ and nothing to do with a stable, just and forgiving community for the future.
“So, let the mounting calls for an end to all paramilitary activity grow and grow. From within the Protestant community let us say to all Loyalist groupings: stop, and stop now.”
_ Robert Nowell
Quote of the Day: President Bush’s Chief Political Adviser Karl Rove
(RNS) “You either have values ingrained in your heart and soul that will not change with the wind or you don’t.”
_ Karl Rove, President Bush’s chief political adviser, addressing graduates of the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., on May 8. He was quoted by the Associated Press.
DEA/PH END RNS
