Christianity
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
15 Apr 2007
Easter, more than Christmas, seems to provoke an outbreak of learned opinions about the strength of Christianity; or about our weakness.
There are 2 billion Christians throughout the world and 1.1 billion of those are Catholic. Most Americans of North and South are Christians, like a majority of Europeans, although Europe is easily the most irreligious continent.
The percentage of Christians in India and China is very low, although there are more Indian Christians than all Australians together and Christianity is expanding in China as it did under the pagan Roman Empires. Only the Philippines and East Timor in Asia have Catholic majorities, but a Christian South Korea will soon follow.
In Africa we have another story of spectacular Christian expansion, where Christians are racing neck and neck with the Moslems. Tensions are often real.
In many parts of the Middle East, Christians suffer under hostile pressures. Iraq has been a disaster with more than 20 Catholic churches destroyed since Saddam’s defeat and perhaps half the Catholics have emigrated. In the Middle East, outside Egypt and Lebanon, and even in Turkey, the 2000 year long Christian story in the region could be coming to an end.
In Australia we are blessed with religious freedom and peace. Some few phoned in to object to Archbishop Jensen and myself retelling the Easter story on A.B.C. radio, but as one non-Christian told me, “In Australia we are free. If you don’t like what is said, you can turn off the radio”. People are also free to listen and then complain and object. This freedom is good.
Our religious situation in Australia lies somewhere between that of U.S.A. and Britain, where hostility to Catholicism and even to Christian values is now open and regular although we are more likely to follow the stronger North American religious patterns.
About 15 per cent of Australian Catholics worship regularly, with the percentage of practising Evangelicals and Pentecostals higher and mainline Protestant churches lower. In the U.S.A. the regular churchgoing rates are often 50 per cent to 150 per cent higher than in Australia.
However Australian Catholic churches have much larger increases in attendance at Christmas and Easter. Cathedrals and holiday resort churches often increase by 200 to 300 per cent, while working class ethnic parishes usually double their numbers. It would be a rare city parish where numbers would not increase 20-30 per cent at Easter and by more at Christmas.
The media and advertisers underestimate religious curiosity and the size of the religious market. The 2008 World Youth Day website has been open for just over 12 months and has recorded 25 million hits.
There is a greater openness to the Gospel in Australia today than there was 25 years ago and it is impossible for hard-core non-believers to insist that around the world Christianity is finished. In Australia too the Christians are here to stay.
