Foreclosure Crisis

Foreclosure Crisis is Changing Religious Perspectives

The latest foreclosure crisis has brought about many changes. The recession is causing changes in religious perspectives. The religious school and congregations have all been affected by the financial downturn and the shepherds of the pack fear that there is more worry ahead.

Organised religion started to face trouble prior to autumn 2008. The number of attendees was falling and the congregations had begun see their finances dwindling. When full fledged recession set in things became worse. It further gnawed into the resources of religious day schools, seminaries and congregations. Some of the latter have vanished and many schools have been shut down.

Those areas worst hit by the crisis have seen people exiting in search of jobs. Those who remain are battling increasing foreclosures, loss of earnings and the trauma of uncertainty.

The main work of religion from the hoary past has been to bring back hope to those who have lost it. But the recession is dragging on and not a ray of light is emerging. Even when the economy will change gear, the impact of the blow will remain a long time making it difficult to get back their faith once again. It will determine where they look for hope and this in turn will determine how they will pass on their faith to the next progeny.
David Roozen of Faith Communities Today said, “In 2010, I think we’re going to see 10 or 15 percent of congregations saying they’re in serious financial trouble. With around 320,000 or 350,000 congregations, that’s a hell of a lot of them.”

The community feeling that bonds religious fraternities has snapped because of the exiting of large numbers from their bases in search of work. There is no guarantee they will come back.

Eve Fein the former head of Morasha Jewish Day School in Rancho Santa Margarita (California) continues to mourn the shutting down of the school. It was not just for the students but the parents too found it to be a centre for their religious activities. They were hoping to sell of some of their estates. This would have enabled them to keep floating but with the drop in real estate their hopes were dashed. Fein commented, “I don’t think any of us who were in it have really recovered. The school was 23 years old. I raised my kids there.”

However the bad news is not uniformly spread out. In many areas the communities are going ahead with new ministries, schools and congregations said some of the religious heads.

About the Author

Karen Anne, has been working on USRepos.com studying the foreclosures market, helping buyers on the finer points of foreclosed homes. Try to visit USRepos.com and search foreclosures by state

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US Foreclosure Crisis