An article by Russell Shorto on “Childless Europe” appears this weekend in the New York Times Magazine online. I’d encourage you to read the entire article (you have to sign up, but it’s free and the New York Times is the national newspaper of record). Shorto points out that Germany and most other European countries have a birth-rate today that is dramatically below even a “replacement” level for the current population. Some have compared the situation to standing at the edge of a precipice. Here are some pungent insights from the article:

‘Europe is infected by a strange lack of desire for the future,’ Pope Benedict proclaimed in 2006. ‘Children, our future, are perceived as a threat to the present.’ In Germany, where the births-to-deaths ratio now results in an annual population loss of roughly 100,000, Ursula von der Leyen, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s family minister (and a mother of seven), declared two years ago that if her country didn’t reverse its plummeting birthrate, ‘We will have to turn out the light.’…

The Canadian conservative Mark Steyn, author of the 2006 best seller America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It, has warned his fellow North Americans, whose birthrates are relatively high, that, regarding their European allies, ‘These countries are going out of business,’ and that while at the end of the 21st century there may ’still be a geographical area on the map marked as Italy or the Netherlands,’ these will ‘merely be designations for real estate.’…

Venice has lost more than half its population since 1950; its residents believe their city is destined to become a Venice-themed attraction. Is the same going to happen to Europe as a whole? Might the United States see its closest ally decay into a real-life Euro Disney?

Next time, I’ll share some startling insights from the rest of the article; in particular, why several European countries are exceptions to this trend. (It’s not the ones you’d think of!)

Meanwhile, please pray for Europe; in particular for “Haus Nazareth” to be a light in the gloom for people in Berlin.