Congregations not only smaller, but greyer

New trends towards individual spirituality are keeping young people away from churches, a religion professor says, and could create even greater problems for churches already looking at merging parishes.

'Religion isn't immune to any of these movements.' Joe Velaidum, UPEI professor

The Roman Catholic Church on Prince Edward Island is looking to close and merge dozens of churches. Part of the trouble is that there are simply fewer people in the rural communities these churches serve, but another is that a smaller proportion of those people are going to church. But that's not necessarily because those people are less religious, says Joe Velaidum, a professor of religion at UPEI.

"What we're finding, especially with the technological revolution, is that more people do things individually," Velaidum told CBC News this week.

"It's called the bowling alone syndrome. More people will go bowl alone than they will as parts of a club, for example. And religion isn't immune to any of these movements."

The trend is especially strong among young people, who find that organized religion doesn't always speak to them.

"Going to church and being religious is totally different thing, you don't necessarily have to go to a building once a week to be spiritual. I think that's what a lot of the youth of today are kind of realizing," said UPEI student Ryan Taylor.

Taylor practises his spirtuality on his own. He said that, based on personal experiences, he can't believe what traditional religions, especially Catholicism, tell him he should.

"I have a lot of friends who are homosexuals and I find that they have great moral fibre but at the same time in the eyes of the church it's still a sin," said Taylor.

"For me you get that contradiction there."

Fellow student Lauren Murphy agreeds with Taylor. She was raised Catholic but stopped practising a couple of years ago.

"It discriminates against other religious groups, against specific people and beliefs. There's just no room for anything but what your religion says is right and I don't agree with that," said Murphy.

With congregations already shrinking, the ability to attract youth to churches does not bode well for churches hoping to stem the flow and build up congregations for the future.