Religious and Spiritual Communities Must Adapt or Die: Surviving and Thriving during Challenging Contemporary Times

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The question addressed is clearly an important one, and the review of background research is thorough. However, the suggestions for a response seem more hortatory than creative.  I suggest doing more research on experiments and "best practices" to respond to the problem.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Generally good, with only a few typos -- the most egregious one being "nibble" for "nimble"!

Author Response

Thank you for your helpful review. All much appreciated. I've reviewed your comments and edited the text accordingly using track changes for easy viewing.  You suggested adding some best practices to the text as an example which I have now added towards the end of the paper (see lines 291-307) using the work of Frs. Martin and Boyle. You also mentioned the typo that I made on lines 219 and 281 using nibble rather than nimble. Those are now edited (see lines 225 and 287). 

Thank you again for your helpful suggestions and close review of my paper. 

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Comments to the Authors:

I think the overall topic to "Adapt or Die" as it connects with today's Faith Communities adjusting t contemporary times and people is very appropriate and important. 

Regarding Spirituality, I would like to see emphasized a balance between the need for community and those who are satisfied with their spirituality practices that does not require being in community. Although, I do agree that most people prefer being in community opposed to being alone, there are some of us introverts who our personalities coincide (in part) with our spirituality. 

I think that the article articulates well the many reasons several faith communities are decreasing in attendance to their regular services and other group rituals in the past 3-5 years. But here again, although religions that continue to stick with old practices without adjusting to contemporary times, there are still many religions and individuals with a variety of religious faiths and spiritualities who continue to seek their faith and spirituality for healthcare reasons without the need for doing this with many people. 

The numbers game in these places of worship are usually to increase the sense of power rather than enhancing healing and wholeness which was partially addressed in the article. I serve in a community where the majority of the people have a disability and several levels of disabilities from mild to severe and profound. I feel that I have become a better human by being a part of them. Their purity, humbleness, creativity, kindness, acceptance, and more than anything, their love is all that we need and all that anyone should need without status and power. All their spiritual practices are honored as they connect with the community here when they want to be alone. 

Thank you, 

Author Response

Thank you for your helpful review. All much appreciated. I've reviewed your comments and edited the text accordingly using track changes for easy viewing. In particular, you mentioned the point that some people may not need to be in community and I have now edited the text about digital technology leading to community enagement and have also added a comment about this issue of some people not really needing community to be spiritual (see lines 88-92 and 100-102).  You also suggested the problem of sticking with old practices and I have now added two brief case studies to the text as an example which I have now added towards the end of the paper using the work of Frs. Martin and Boyle (see lines 291-307). They are innovative and very successful. 

Thank you again for your helpful suggestions and close review of my paper. 

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

lines 94-95: Couldn't these things (digital technology, etc.) also be the impetus for our desire to engage with others in person and in community? 

line 205: This section ends with a sentence beginning with "perhaps" - this feels like it minimizes the article's contribution that there are specific strategies and this article is describing them. 

line 294: again the "perhaps" in this sentence weakens and goes against the claims of this article that religious communities need to take this saying to heart

I think this topic is very important. I note there are a lot of generalities in the article, however, and nothing I didn't know already or suspect. I suspect the average reader may feel the same. Is there a way to offer more specific or out-of-the-box ideas for religious communities that want to change? Is there a case study you could engage of a successful community that is surviving and thriving that you could draw some best practices from, adaptable for other communities? 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

lines 219/281: I think the word "nimble" may be meant.

Author Response

Thank you for your helpful review. All much appreciated. I've reviewed each comment and edited the text accordingly using track changes for easy viewing. In particular, you mentioned the possible upside of digital technology leading to community enagement in lines 100-102 which I have now added to the paper. You mentioned using the word, "perhaps" to soften the message in lines 205 and 294 which I have now edited out (see line 59 and 318). You also suggested adding a case study to the text as an exampe which I have now added towards the end of the paper using the work of Frs. Martin and Boyle (see lines 291-307). Finally, you mentioned the typo that I made on lines 219 and 281 using nibble rather than nimble. Those are now edited (see lines 225 and 287). 

Thank you again for your helpful suggestions and close review of my paper. 

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I appreciate the inclusion of case studies at the end. The case studies chosen, however, are both of Jesuit Catholic priests and I wonder if that focus is overly narrow. Both priests and their ministries are also pretty well-known and may not add meaningfully to the reader's understanding of the essay. When suggesting case studies, I wondered if you might use some that are particularly known to you so that you might draw some other, more useful conclusions from the practice of a faith community navigating the difficulties your article describes - this would add to the value and specificity of your essay, which otherwise describes much that is already likely known to a reader of this journal.

 

 

Author Response

REVIEWER'S COMMENT:

I appreciate the inclusion of case studies at the end. The case studies chosen, however, are both of Jesuit Catholic priests and I wonder if that focus is overly narrow. Both priests and their ministries are also pretty well-known and may not add meaningfully to the reader's understanding of the essay. When suggesting case studies, I wondered if you might use some that are particularly known to you so that you might draw some other, more useful conclusions from the practice of a faith community navigating the difficulties your article describes - this would add to the value and specificity of your essay, which otherwise describes much that is already likely known to a reader of this journal.

AUTHOR RESPONSE:

Thank you for yoru suggestion. I have included two new brief case examples that are not well known with one from the Jewish tradition and another from the Protestant tradition. I left one of my two Catholic examples (i.e., Fr. Greg Boyle at Homeboy Industries) so that there are now three brief case examples from different faith traditions provided.