As the most multicultural city in the world, Toronto's level of religious following/activity should interest every immortalist:
-(A brief mention of Canada's level of participation is included, as well.)
Immigrants worship more
Attendance down for Canadian-born, StatsCan finds
LESLIE SCRIVENER
FAITH AND ETHICS REPORTER
Attendance at religious services is declining across Canada, but not in the Greater Toronto area — where the pews are often packed, the gurdwaras overflowing and the mosques are full as soon as they are built.
Attendance has held firm in Toronto because of immigration — those born outside Canada are more likely than Canadian-born to go to services regularly, Statistics Canada reported yesterday.
Fifty per cent of immigrants in Toronto attended services at least once a month in 2001, up from 44 per cent in 1989. Only 28 per cent of Canadian-born attended services, a drop of three percentage points in the same period. Monthly attendance for those born in Canada or outside of Canada remained relatively steady in the last decade, rising from about 37 per cent to 38 per cent for people over 15.
Across Canada, monthly attendance dropped from 43 per cent in 1986 to 31 per cent in 2001.
While the decline of mainline churches has been a constant theme in recent years, those who study religion in Canada say there are signs of renewal.
About 30 per cent of congregations are in decline, 30 per cent remained stable and 30 per cent grew, religion sociologist Reg Bibby reported last year in his book, Restless Gods: The Renaissance of Religion in Canada.
In Whitby, Rev. Christopher White shepherds one of those growing congregations. Next month Westminster United Church will open its new building — 20,000 square feet and four times bigger than the previous building.
"We were full, we were overflowing," White said. The problem wasn't merely a crowded parking lot on Sundays; they wanted space for their youth and community programs. "We want to create a seven-day-a-week church."
They needed room for their parish nurse, a mentoring program for men and women who have been homeless, a gym for a volleyball league, a community kitchen, a youth drop-in, a place for their stroke recovery group and an Amnesty International program. "We don't know where this will take us, but we want to have the space," said White, who co-authored a new book on churches in the 21st century, Emmaus Road: Churches Making Their Way Forward.
Increasingly, places of worship are drawing and keeping members, not only because of religious services, but because of community programs, including visiting the sick and bereaved, family counselling, mother and child groups, housing help and care for the elderly.
"We're sensing a need and a sense of belonging, not an obligation," said Rev. Timothy Hanley of St. Dominic's Catholic Church in Mississauga.
The Toronto Catholic archdiocese has built eight new churches in the last three years. Mass attendance — every three weeks or more often — has remained steady in the Toronto area at about 43 per cent.
The face of religious worship has changed in recent decades in Toronto. Thirty or so years ago there was one mosque; today there are more than 100 Muslim institutions.
The Islamic Centre of Toronto opened a new mosque on South Sheridan Way in Mississauga in 2001. "It was at full capacity, sometimes overflowing, from the official opening," said Mohammad Ashraf, secretary general of the Islamic Centre of Canada.
There are 32 Sikh gurdwaras in Ontario, most filled on weekends and many weeknights. "We are told by our guru to go the gurdwara to get a blessing," said Amarjit Mann, spokesperson for the Ontario Gurdwara Committee.
The greatest decline in religious attendance was in Quebec, where monthly attendance dropped from 37 per cent in the early '90s to 25 per cent in 2001.
In May, StatsCan will provide a more detailed breakdown of religious affiliation in Canada in its analysis of the 2001 census.
(Taken from the Toronto Star Website on March 19th, 2003 -I didn't have much time or reason to include a hyperlink, as the entire story is here, and the link would quickly become unusable due to frequent changes to the page.)
