{"id":12532,"date":"2011-12-02T10:59:09","date_gmt":"2011-12-02T16:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=12532"},"modified":"2011-12-03T23:35:16","modified_gmt":"2011-12-04T05:35:16","slug":"declining-with-grace-and-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/12\/02\/declining-with-grace-and-creativity\/","title":{"rendered":"Declining with Grace and Creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the editorial that just went online at America<\/em>, “A Spirit-Led Future<\/a>,” the issue of declining church attendance and declining ordinations and professions and general institutional shrinkage is take up.<\/p>\n

Today the church in much of the country is contracting. Schools have closed, hospitals merged, novitiates shuttered\u2014moments rarely captured on film. With priestly and religious vocations and Mass attendance in decline, the church can no longer do all it once did.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you want to discuss the issue in general, please go over to America<\/em> and join up there.<\/em> Here at Pray Tell, <\/em>let’s hone in on the liturgical <\/strong>implications of shrinkage. (You’re forewarned: the editor has a delete button for non-liturgical comments.) What all issues are raised about liturgical planning, celebration, morale, finances, sense of community, and so forth? What solutions present themselves? Where is the Spirit leading us?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today the [Catholic] <\/i>church in much of the country is contracting. Schools have closed, hospitals merged, novitiates shuttered\u2014moments rarely captured on film. With priestly and religious vocations and Mass attendance in decline, the church can no longer do all it once did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[357],"tags":[253],"class_list":["post-12532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-demographics-and-sociology","tag-america-magazine"],"yoast_head":"\nDeclining with Grace and Creativity - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/12\/02\/declining-with-grace-and-creativity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Declining with Grace and Creativity - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today the [Catholic] church in much of the country is contracting. 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