Catholics outnumber Anglicans two to one among Gen Z churchgoers
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/religion/article/catholics-outnumber-anglicans-gen-z-churchgoers-s5wft0crg?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawJhs35leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHsMlxuo3fVyddpdntoHxfLG79vXRMdTSKk5NX-aPcq2vnAmb8q9yH0USoB9E_aem_2wrLkmUNGLFBixukgEK0IA#Echobox=1744095086
Posted by SojournerInThisVale
33 Comments
Ok so there are 2 Catholic gen z and 1 Anglican gen z, who cares?
Anything to do with immigration from catholic countries?
I’m going to assume that people moving here from catholic countries are doing most of the lifting on this one. Besides, the CoE has always had a bit of a reputation as being a bit pensioner heavy.
No surprises. The type of young person drawn to the church is probably seeking the tradition of Cath/Orthodoxy rather than the CoE. I’m not particularly drawn but I can see the appeal.
Protestantism is eating itself. It was the most “progressive” of the Christian religions and whilst it was pretty much responsible for the enlightenment and escaping the tyranny of the Catholic Church, it has now stepped so far away from orthodoxy that it isn’t appealing to a lot of religious Christians, especially younger people who are now moving away from neo-left policies.
Have people finally cottoned onto the fact that CoE is a sect which was founded by someone who had two of his wives killed, and that might not be the best basis for a ‘religion’?
Anglican Church pretty much gave up on their chirstian duties.
All my friends are either Catholic or Athiest. Does the CoE even believe in anything anymore?
What Anglicans are we talking about?
Independent Anglican churches?
GAFCON Anglican churches?
CoE churches?
You can’t treat them as the same since there is currently a scism within Anglicanism as the CoE has effectively been excommunicated from the rest of the Anglican world for it’s heretical views.
I’m aware of a GAFCON church relatively near me (in London) that is VERY lively, with lots of young people and familes.
Catholics, especially devout practicing Catholics, have a high birth rate, lots of kids and big families.
Anglicans are either only there for the school place, wedding or African Anglicans that are being encouraged not to bring their entire family over to the UK.
This is hardly surprising.
Yes, I’m actually incredulous at the number of young people—mostly immigrants but more native faces are appearing—in the local Catholic community. Tradition and orthodox compared with the COE’s disparate tenets offer more enticement of community and stability.
There is also an online tactic of the Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches to appeal to disillusioned young men espousing they won’t be disdained for exhibiting the ‘reviled’ masculinity.
Immigration is the greatest driving force however. There has been a huge increase in Vietnamese Catholics in our Romani populated Catholic Church that’s bolstered our numbers considerably – mostly men and young families.
Most Catholics I know have a lot of siblings so I’m not massively surprised
What even is Anglicanism anymore
They don’t stand for anything
The churches that are growing are the Nigerian churches and new churches such as Kings and Hillsongs etc.
I am COE, it’s full of old people 60 plus , I do not see a future for the COE in the next 30 years. The COE is an endangered species.
Not many teenagers or 20s or people in their 30s attending. Sorry state of affairs.
Not surprised, as technology becomes more prevalent in society and people feel more lonely and disconnected, they will look for religions and traditions that make them feel more connected to each other and give them some meaning, it’s also the reason why so many people in progressive and Christian countries are converting to Islam.
That means there are two catholics and one Anglican.
I’m a millenial, so not quite the generation of this post but a friend of mine did the RCIA this year, and I’ve debated leaving the protestant (not CoE) church. I’m not surprised to see more younger people seeking unity and tradition
I know probably a few dozen Christians, a few are Catholic. Most are Methodists, Baptists, even a few Evangelicals & other denominations. I’ve never known many Anglicans who were regular churchgoers.
Of the younger ones none are Anglicans.
Bells and smells! I’m not religious at all but the ‘heavy metal’ iconography and moody atmosphere of Catholic churches is much more interesting that the more spartan CoE. Way more interesting than the sterile spaces of methodists etc.
It’s a shame about the dogma that goes with it all. I often think humans need such places to go and reflect, and the atmosphere one finds in churches and shines can be very relaxing. Out-of-the-way Japanese Shinto shrines are great for this.
Maybe one day there will be a ‘religion of reflection’ – no specific canon, no faith required, just interesting places to go and reflect…
3 church goers in a generation ain’t bad. Keep it going, nearly gone!
Most young Protestants from my experience now belong to evangelical style churches either independent ones or holy trinity Brompton types which are within the Church of England but certainly not traditional style services.
Church attendance figures are meaningless in the UK while church schools, with better results than your average school, demand regular attendance for a school place. I’m atheist and I went to church to give my kids the option of a school place in case the one none church school wasn’t good enough.
Took my son to an Anglican church service leading up to Christmas once and there was a PowerPoint in the middle of it. Least meditative/spiritual experience ever.
People want a proppa religion, not that wishy washy council car boot sale version.
There is a lot of negativity about Christianity in this post, so I wanted to share my experience in attending an Anglican church in south wales.
I’ve enjoyed going to church. It has given me space for reflection on who I want to be. I’ve learnt some lessons from the Bible, and it feels very good to have helped my community. I socialise with a diverse range of people. We are kind to one another, and remember the small things. We help where we can. The clergy make time to visit church goers in hospital when they are unwell. They support so many people in our town, they always have an open ear.
I volunteer in the baby/toddler group twice a week, which is free for anyone to attend. Parents and babies of all faiths come, and we feed them all. They get a special gift around mothers day.
I feel very happy doing this, and I encourage anyone to do the same (should they want to).
It’s not really surprising.
Christian immigrants (what few there are) to this country are largely coming from Catholic nations.
Catholicism is also the more extreme/robust faith. It probably appeals more to any potential converts and people who newly discover religion, looking for a community and moral code than anglicanism, which these days is pretty wishy-washy and has very few principles.
Roman Catholicism teaches that attendance at Mass is an obligation to be fulfilled and that failure to do so knowingly, will result in mortal sin and thus damnation.
Protestants on the other hand believe a relationship with God is what matters and not whether you go to church or not. Church attendance is a desire that arises from faith, rather than a prerequisite for salvation.
So it’s hardly surprising that Catholics will put more of an emphasis on churchgoing. My grandparents are deeply faithful Christians but almost never attend church, and the same was true for my great grandparents. I’m one of the only ones in my family to actively attend but I’m far from the only believer.
That’s besides what everyone else has pointed out about religiosity of Catholic immigrants vs indifference among British natives of Protestant heritage.
There’s been a big alt-right movement in the US to convert to trad cath stuff alongside the tradwife stuff.
Over here it’s noticeable in the 5,000 editorials from journalists saying they’ve converted to trad cath, which raises some questions about their politics.
BS religion number 1 outnumbers BS religion number 2
I think it’s too early in the morning for me to be outraged by this.
Anyone else miss when an article like this would go for “isn’t that interesting?” tone-wise, rather than “and here’s why you should be cross/scared about it”?
I like to think people learn to discover the CofE at a certain time of their life whilst people learn to escape the catholic church, as an atheist I’ll always be a bit proud of how our CofE has been in my lifetime in comparison to the rest of the world’s religions.
Brain washing works. Kids in Catholic schools are fed the religious bollocks constantly, kids in mainstream schools aren’t.
It takes a lot to un-learn what you have been taught regardless of whether its true or not.
Yes because Christians don’t want to be part of the “Community of England”. They want real traditional Christianity.