"The Christian faith isn't a white collar faith. It isn't even a faith for people in blue collars. If anything, it it a faith for people who don't even have shirts." ~ Fr. Patrick Reardon
I've often joked that Orthodox Christianity is Christianity for graduate students. We are an unusually highly educated bunch. We quote obscure writers in our conversations and sing unusual and ancient music in our services. Most of the Orthodox I know speak at least two languages. Most of the Orthodox Christians I know would be classed as white collar. So my question is, if Fr. Patrick is right, have we made a mistake? Why isn't our Church more attractive to the very poor and the uneducated, the dregs of society? What can I do to make the poor and uneducated feel at home in this faith?
5 comments:
I think you're right about Orthodoxy in America, but not perhaps the way it looks in the rest of the world.
I have often wondered the same thing though about reaching out to those who are less bookish.
Evangelism is our greatest weakness but I think you are incorect about the educated as our parish is made of white middle to upper crusties and they haven't a clue about Orthodoxy. Its just another Sunday chore. Perhaps its the jurisdiction....
I think your observation reflects more on your immediate enviornment than it does on the rest of the world. Perhaps it is part of the curse of living in the Bay Area...
In our parish
My parish seems to be quite different from what I'm seeing described. Our parish is extremely un-wealthy...it includes monastics, who have renounces all worldly possessions, but generally are parishioners don't have a lot.
I'm not sure we're weak on evangelism, since Orthodoxy is growing faster than any other Christian communion. I think we're weak on programs, but there's a difference between programs and evangelizing.
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