They keep on coming
Posted: 02 Nov 2006 @ 00:00
CHURCH weddings in Manchester diocese are up by five per cent despite all
the alternative venues that are now fashionable. There were 1450 in 2004, up by
60 from the previous year. Steve and Katie Allen (right), who married at Christ
Church, Pennington, were just one couple who felt that church was the place for
the most important promises they will ever make.
Infant baptisms also rose by two per cent, and child baptisms by four per
cent, a total of 4970 children received into the Church. And that doesn’t take
account of the parents who opt for the new thanksgiving services for their
babies: their numbers rose from 330 to 380.
We all know that churches were fuller than ever last Christmas, but
Manchester is among the dioceses that have seen a small but steady increase in
weekly adult attendance across the diocese of one per cent. Definitely not
"dwindling" as much of the national media would have us believe.