Holy struggle

STELLARTON - The holiday season is a busy time of year with all of the hustle and bustle of exchanging gifts and visiting family. And then when all of the Eggnog is gone and the Christmas tree is ready to be put to the curb, the new year is just around the corner.
Are people still finding time to go to church this holiday season? It depends on who you ask.
Pastor Brian Johnston of Zion United Baptist Church in Truro says 'no.'
"This season, I found attendance was down compared to the same services last year," Johnston said recently. "In fact, since I've been talking to other pastors (in the area), it seems church attendance has been down the past few months."
No one can say, exactly, why fewer people may be going to church but Johnston has his own theories. The problem, says Johnston, is that the meaning of Christmas seems to have changed, at least for some people.
"You look around and you see the over-commercialization of Christmas rather than the true meaning of Christmas," he said. "And I guess you've got to give the stores credit because they're pushing that commercialization and we as churches aren't doing a good enough job in pushing the spiritual element of (the holiday)."
Not all churches in the region have experienced a drop in attendance this season. Rev. Peter Armstrong of the Anglican Churches of Pictou County says Anglican churches in the county have experienced an increase in attendance this holiday season.
"Attendance has been moderately up this Christmas over previous Christmases," said Armstrong.
Others, like Rev. Don Miller, a youth minister at First Baptist Church in Amherst, say attendance over the holidays has remained about the same compared to previous years.
Likewise, Rev. Ron Cairns of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Truro says, for the most part, the number of church-goers during the holidays has remained unchanged.
"We typically have eight masses for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and most of those are filled," Cairns said.
What they can agree on is that there is a drop-off in attendance after the holiday season is over. Miller says there's even a nickname for those who only attend church services on holidays.
"We like to call them 'C-E people' or Christmas-Easter people," he said joking. "But we always welcome people whenever we can have them."
For some people, says Cairns, attending church during the holidays is another Christmas tradition.
"Christmas has become a cultural feast as much as it is a feast of faith," he said.
"And going to some kind of church service is, for many people, part of the cultural experience of Christmas."