The Wall Street Journal examines the economic crisis’ dichotomous impact on houses of worship: fewer dollars coming in, while  more being asked of them. This impossible situation reflecting individual family budgets.
Across the country, congregations of all sizes and denominations are struggling with issues of faith and finance as the recession grinds on. Churches are scouring [...]

Swine flu fears have spurred the Church of England to revive a rule drawn up during the bubonic plague more than 450 years ago, says the Financial Times. Amid rising concern about the spread of swine flu, some Anglican churches are allowing “intinction” or dipping bread in communion wine rather than sharing the chalice, while others [...]

From The Washington Times: mainline Protestant denominations adopt Madison Avenue techniques in effort to stem decades of membership losses and stay afloat.
The United Methodist Church recently released a $20 million rebranding effort aimed at attracting younger members to the large but diminishing Protestant sect. The new ads will appear over the next four years as part of the denomination’s “Rethink [...]

Graduating divinity students are feeling trepidation as the contracting economy has led congregations across the religious spectrum to cut or downsize clergy positions, according to The New York Times.
The anecdotal evidence collected by the Association of Theological Schools, which covers 250 graduate institutions in the United States and Canada, has found job listings for ministerial positions down by about one-third [...]

Facing the global economic crisis, Prime Minister Gordon Brown calls on religious leaders to help develop a “shared moral sense” to govern markets and the economy.  He spoke of the need to conquer fear with faith.
In a speech at St Paul’s Cathedral, the Prime Minister drew on religious doctrine in a highly-personal address which warned [...]

The BBC reports on the Church of England’s “prayer for the current financial situation” published online six months ago and which 40,000 have visited. It begins:
“Lord God, we live in disturbing days: across the world prices rise, debts increase, banks collapse, jobs are taken away, and fragile security is under threat.”
To reduce the decline in [...]

Survey finds more Americans have no religion.
Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

Check out this Lentian “Rant,” calling for a leaner-meaner government:
In periods of downsizing and restructuring, companies often become leaner and more efficient. If not, they tend to go out of business. One could look at it as a sort of “fasting” period. Government, however, continues to grow in good economies and bad.
Perhaps if government learned [...]

For those who have already lost a lot this year, finding something to sacrifice this Lent might be more of a challenge.
But for some, these tough times are a lesson unto themselves, providing instruction to the faithful that is far more effective than giving up chocolate, booze or Twitter.

”It refocuses one’s objectives and beliefs, really,” [...]

VirtueOnline surveys Episcopal Dioceses and Parishes, which it describes as experiencing the “worst financial crisis since Depression.”