The first person to make a protest about Christian generosity was Judas. He was greatly offended when expensive nard, that cost “300 days labor and could have been given to the poor” was poured upon the feet of Jesus. Judas was enraged that someone would dare to deal directly with God. He believed that all the donations should be filtered through him. He believed that no one but Judas could handle the money properly. Giving directly to God kept Judas from taking his cut. He was so angry about this threat to his income that he betrayed Him to the Jews for the prophesied 30 pieces of silver, “the price of a slave”.
Afterwards, Judas hung himself. The weed pulled itself out of the garden.
Others came and went, the same way. The Church just keeps plugging away.
In the 1950s, America’s Protestant Establishment reached a pinnacle of power and importance. Huge, prosperous churches sprang up in suburbs still growing, not yet hamstrung by birth control. For a decade or so, they were filled every Sunday.
By the 1960s, they had begun to wane. By the 70s, the shrinkage was obvious. By the end of the century, the large, Mainline Protestant denominations had shriveled, many past the point of no return. Most of the survivors were living on disappearing endowments.
A few “megachurches” filled in the gaps. Being largely “personality based” on the magnetism and organizational ability of their founders, they don’t last. Infighting, major and minor peculations, succession battles, and the usual theological disagreements fragmented them as soon as those who wanted to set up their own churches saw opportunities to take a sufficient number of believers to provide their own cash flow with them.
Oddly enough, during this half-century, there was little, if any, Catholic Evangelization. Few in the world are approached by Catholic missionaries. But, the number of Catholics appears to be somewhat stable. There has been some reduction in numbers, as self-willed people continue to leave, not replaced by shrinking Catholic birth rates.
Still, the shrinkage is most notable in the sections of the garden that are weeding themselves most rapidly.
