WOF 283: Is Church Really that Important?

The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

Brandon Vogt

God, Vogt, Catholicism, Catholic, Faith, Christianity, Barron, Religion & Spirituality, Christian, Church

4.9 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 10 May 2021

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A new Gallup survey found that the proportion of Americans who consider themselves members of a church, synagogue, or mosque has dropped below 50% for the first time in American history. In 1999, around 70% of Americans attended a church, synagogue, or mosque--today it's just 47%. Bishop Barron and Brandon discuss these results, what they mean, and why it matters whether someone belongs to a church. They also respond to commenters on Reddit who reveal why they stopped going to church and will never go back.

A listener asks, why doesn't the spiritual life get easier?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	No one tells me what to do in the spiritual order.
0:02.1	Well, why? What are you, a saint? You're already a saint.
0:05.8	No, we're all learners. We're all disciples, right?
0:09.6	Come follow me, says the Lord.
0:11.6	Well, how about that? Oh, no, no, no, tell me what to do.
0:14.5	How about the Lord Jesus through His church telling you,
0:18.6	instructing you in the spiritual order?
0:20.8	Welcome back to the Word on Fire Show. I'm Brandon Vat, the senior content director.
0:33.2	We're going to be talking about a pressing problem in the church,
0:35.8	namely that fewer and fewer people are coming to church.
0:39.4	A new survey revealed that the numbers are dropping off astronomically.
0:43.2	So we're going to kick that around, discuss why it is and what we can do about it.
0:47.2	Before we get there, though, Bishop Aaron, welcome. It's good to be with you.
0:50.6	Thanks, Brandon. How's life in Orlando?
0:54.0	It's pretty good. It's sunny, weather's good. We've just started getting rain back,
0:58.3	which in our little farm here, it's finally for the first time in my life,
1:02.4	I think I've appreciated weather cycles and needing rain.
1:05.3	Yeah, we need rain in California. How far are you from Orlando itself?
1:09.6	Like an hour? About half an hour. Just a half hour.
1:12.6	Orlando. Yeah, good. Well, let's talk about this new survey from Gallup.
1:19.2	The survey headline was that US church membership falls below majority for first time.
1:26.7	And here's what they found that the proportion of Americans who consider themselves members
	...

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