[Culturechat] Church and community in Europe

[Brian Taussig-Lux]

My experience in Austria is that church attendence (Catholic) in the 
villages is quite high.  The church really does seem to be a center of 
village life.  This impression could be skewed by the fact that I spent 
most of my time in Austria in a village, Kuchl, that was described by 
neighboring villagers as a particularly "pious" village.  Certainly social 
considerations are important in this regular church attendence, but I think 
most of my Catholic Austrian friends, many of whom were in their 20s when I 
lived there, take their religion quite seriously.

A Lutheran church in Salzburg that I attended semi-regularly for a couple 
of years had very low attendence.  I knew Lutherans in Salzburg who 
preferred attending Catholic masses because they could choose a parish with 
a more dynamic priest.  The Lutheran minister performed his duties with all 
the enthusiasm of an undertaker.

All other Protestant denominations in Austria fall into the category of 
"free churches" and or referred to commonly as "sects."  They do not have 
very high numbers of adherants.  Evangelizing tends to be pretty low key 
because it is not very acceptable socially.  Jehovah's Witnesses used to 
stand silently with a copy of "Watchtower" at the Salzburg train 
station.  I rarely saw them conversing with anybody.  Morman missionaries 
are fairly active in Austria, but I don't know how they go about their 
business.  I noticed the clean cut American men speaking perfect German on 
trains occasionally.

When I registered in Kuchl as a resident, I had a long discussion with the 
town clerk who wanted to categorize me as Catholic, Lutheran, or 
"Unbeliever."  When I asked to be noted as "Christian," she started looking 
at me like some kind of radical nut case.  After trying to put me in 
everything from Muslim to "old Catholic," we finally agreed on Presbyterian 
because she had a cousin in Scotland whose husband was Presbyterian.

I've been told by Czech friends that the Czech Republic is one of Europe's 
least religious countries.  I don't know how this was determined or even if 
it is true, but it is consistent with my contact with Czech people.  I 
don't know any who are religious.

My impression is that the Swiss are less diligent in their church 
attendence than the Austrians.  The Swiss Catholics are notorious for their 
independent streak.  I think they have given headaches to more than one pope.

At 01:11 PM 1/3/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Recently I've been in discussion with some friends about churchgoing 
>habits in the USA vs those in Western Europe.  Surveys show, I believe, 
>that among those of the Christian faith, a much higher percentage attend 
>regular services here than in Europe.  Our limited observations over there 
>were that very few young people attend.  Other than for weddings (and 
>funerals, I suppose) we saw mainly the ubiquitous old ladies entering the 
>churches.
>
>I would be interested in Vance's views, as well as the observations of all 
>others about the scene both at home and in Europe, on this. Some questions 
>that come to mind are:
>
>1.) Is the church truly the social center of a small European village such 
>as it might be (and certainly was a century ago) in Small Town, America?
>2.) What about in the big cities?
>3.) Does this differ for predominantly Catholic countries -- or for those 
>formerly behind the Iron Curtain?
>4.) Does much evangelizing go on -- at least among the Protestants?
>5.) And, is it thought that some of those Europeans who do attend services 
>of any sort do so more for social reasons rather than spiritual 
>fulfillment -- as some members of our churches are accused of doing?
>
>Irv Smith
>Missouri City TX

Brian Taussig-Lux
Idyll, Ltd.

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