I usually only actively practice my Catholicism once a year or so – I sometimes attend the Italian service of the Stations of the Cross at the local Catholic Church in the evening of Good Friday.
Last night, I chose not to do so, as it was dark and gloomy at 7.30pm. But I did go for a walk earlier on before sunset.
What I found was that there were a lot of local restaurants and takeaways open: the seafood restaurant on the corner, the Thai restaurant near the church, the fish & chip shop, the pizza shop, and the gourmet burger joint.
And of course, the McDonalds near the supermarket.
Back when I first moved into Avondale Heights 19 years ago, when wandering off to the Catholic Church on Good Friday to attend that Italian service in the evening, there would only be the McDonalds open.
I think that what has happened in the past few years has not been a growing secularisation of society, but that the Covid induced lockdowns which shut down small business and civil society for two years have taken an indirect toll. That is, small business people do not take the right to open their doors for granted at the moment, and so they treat Good Friday not as a solemn public holiday to close up and stay home, but as another business day where they have an opportunity to try and earn some money and keep their businesses afloat.
Lost For Words! 
Lockdown? It would be convenient to blame the Church’s growing insignificance on Dan Andrews. However, the days when the congregation would listen to the preacher shrieking and flapping about life after you’re dead with genuine god-fearing belief are long gone.
Beyond the obvious scandals that have ripped the Catholic
church apart, Christians are finally waking up to the fact that their priests simply know bugger all about bugger all as they try to interpret an irrelevant, clumsy, contardictory and obiously man made text in which women are considered posessions next to their livestock.
Or maybe they are angry that God created the corona virus to begin with! And then this God made disease indiscriminantly killed regardless of whether you were a true believer or not, sheep’s blood painted in an X above the door or not.
I think lockdown, if anything, gave doubting and fed up Christians an initial reason to stop attending church without being judged by the other Christians who wished they weren’t attending but did. This has emboldened these rebels and given them courage, despite the threat of eternal torture in the hole. They are breaking the hold that these silly supernatural cults have held over them and saying “no more”.
I can only imagine the relief they must finally feel when they finally break free of this abusive relationship.
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