Church Lite: Better for You?

OK, it seems we've hit the bottom of the barrel when it comes to reality television.... Because the soon-to-be craze in Britain will be "Priest Idol" -- the story of Fr James McCaskill, an American vicar (from Pittsburgh, actually) recruited to salvage a dying parish in the UK....

From the Telegraph

The fresh-faced cleric from an affluent parish in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was initially shocked by the high unemployment, the drug taking and the crumbling 1930s church sandwiched between a bookmakers and a fish and chip shop.

However, with the backing of the Archdeacon of Pontefract, the Ven Jonathan Greener, he spruced up the building and drafted in an interior designer to create a "reflection zone" for meditation. A key factor in his strategy was a glossy marketing campaign to "rebrand" the parish with the slogan "Church Lite, it's better for you".

Mr McCaskill said: "Church Lite reflects the fact that many people think of church as stuffy, preachy and boring. "It's a thought-provoking message, but I want to get people to come along to see for themselves that the church is different."

Hundreds of people who had ignored the parish for years, including a number of teenagers, were enticed through the gates of the church to enjoy a July garden party with brass band, a barbecue and fireworks.

At the Sunday service the following day, which featured a gospel choir and a sermon by the comedian Jimmy Cricket, the flower-bedecked church was packed with more than 200 worshippers.

Since then, Mr McCaskill has introduced family services with football themes and other innovations and Sunday congregations have remained buoyant.

Something to emulate? Or just another example of the Church of England's descent into the netherworld?

I wonder if Duncan had anything to do with this guy's shipping himself across the Pond. This approach doesn't seem like it'd fly in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.

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