Religion declines as the interest in spirituality increases...

Dear Friends,

I'm sure this won't be a surprise to most of the readers of Catholica but PeterR has just posted a story on the forum from another US study showing how interest in spirituality is growing in some kind of inverse relationship to how interest in religion is declining. His post reads...

The number of Americans who are praying is increasing at the same time as more of them say they have no formal religious affiliation, a study of religious trends has found. The dynamic represents an "apparent shift in patterns of spiritual practice and identity away from the familiar institutions," Omar M. McRoberts, a University of Chicago sociologist and researcher, told Ecumenical News International. "We are witnessing a decoupling of 'spirituality' from 'religion'."

I doubt any of that news is going to cause any change in direction in Rome. Chapter Nine of Kaiser's novel though is all about Cardinal Mahony "seeing the light" and having a resurrection.
<Link to today's excerpt from Kaiser's novel, "Cardinal Mahony">
<www.catholica.com.au/gc3/rbk/009_rbk_171009.php>
<Link to PeterR's post on the forum>
<www.catholica.com.au/forum/index.php?id=35754>

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Best wishes for a great day wherever you happen to be ... in life or in our world.

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher