The Archdiocese of Miami announced Sunday that it will close 13 churches in Miami-Dade and Broward counties over the next six weeks. The Miami Herald reports  this is an effort “to slash costs in a recession that has caused the institution to lose tens of millions in investments while subsidizing operations at struggling parishes.”
Seven Catholic [...]

Sunday’s New York Times takes a look at the Fort Worth based “prosperity gospel” and its preachers Kenneth and Gloria Copeland who delight ”the crowd with anecdotes about the luxurious lives they had attained by following the Word of God.”
Private airplanes and boats. A motorcycle sent by an anonymous supporter. Vacations in Hawaii and cruises in Alaska. [...]

USA Today is not exactly being transparent when it reports churches are pushing for a hike to the federal minimum wage. Though its headline blares “Churches push for $10 minimum wage by 2010,” a simple check of the website of the group advocating a $10 federal minimum wage — the Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign [...]

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 [...]

Pope Benedict offers a 79-point list of problems and recommendations on the economic crisis, drawing from previous popes and the Bible.  Philly Inquirer seeks financial book author comments.

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 [...]

Advertising Age looks at ”American’s increasingly fickle relationship with religion”, as churches “scramble” for  consumers’ attention.
With more labeling themselves as having no religion or unaffiliated, the publication looks at recruitment efforts:
Look at the parallels between religion and marketing, and it’s almost identical. People become attached to a religion in the same way someone takes on a [...]

Apparently not. The Christian Post reports megachurches are faring slightly better in the recession than smaller churches, findings from a new study shows.
A Leadership Network survey of 555 mostly megachurch pastors found that only 7 percent of the executive church leaders said the economic downturn has had a “very negative” impact on their church.Forty-nine percent said [...]

Christianity Today’s cover story is calling it “The Not-for-Profit Surge” reporting that even in tough times, some religious charities are thriving.