Lonely this Easter, depressed, in need of company or just escaping Facebook tyranny? Why not go to church? Or rather go not to church but to “a church”, one where no one preaches or expects you to pray? The number of beautiful but deserted churches in England is turning from an Anglican anguish into a national scandal. There are 16,000 Church of England churches in England alone. A quarter of them have fewer than 16 worshippers at even intermittent services. For all the efforts of dedicated wardens, most are locked and inaccessible. What is to be done with them?
The familiar litany of declining Anglican worship continues, with Sunday regulars down almost a third since 2000 and hovering at 750,000. This is less than 2% of the population. England has slightly more active Catholics, but Catholics and nonconformists too are declining, with Christian worshippers overall likely to be overtaken by Muslim ones within a generation. The parish mosque will be more used than the parish church. These churches comprise almost half of all Grade I-listed buildings in England. They are glorious survivors of the art and architecture of the middle ages, unequalled in Europe. They are where Thomas Gray’s “rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep”. Their walls and steeples dominate every town and village in the land.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2GqqO6o
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