How to renew dying parish?

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Worldly management tricks do not work. Try to get in touch with Him by prayers, the results shall deepen the faith of yours first followed by others. He does not go anywhere uninvited and unclean.
 
This. Make the sacraments more available, especially confession.
 
Keep the mass sacred and traditional, do not modernize, do not try to please everyone. Be authentically Catholic. Only modernize insofar as things like having a good website.

Offer programs for returning Catholics, faith formation, and people who want to brush up on their formation.
 
Lots of good ideas here.

Are young adult Catholics going to a nearby non denominational site? If so, what do they do to draw them?
I don’t mean changing beliefs to fit them, just wondering if there are neutral, technical things you could learn. Your town is similar, but not the same, as other posters on CAF.
 
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I second the nominations for online presence and TLM. I’ll throw in to bring back things that separate Catholicism from Jim Bob’s HappyJoy Church o’ Jesus down the street: Rosary, Eucharistic adoration, processions, use of Latin in the Mass, offering Mass ad orientem (even if not in Latin), homilies about Catholic culture, sin, traditions, why we do things the way we do. Encourage the priests to wear their collars outside of Mass, Marian and saint statues in front of the church, bumper stickers/magnets for cars to get word out.
 
Is your younger demographic Catholic?
Do they attend church anywhere?
What do the parishioners in your target demographic say?
You may be able to use social media to get answers.
 
Have an active social media presence. Advertise all church events, live stream Liturgy, do an Open House, partner up with other parishes in the community for joint events These are just a couple of ideas
 
vz71 said:
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Kindnessmatters:
Keep the mass sacred and traditional, do not modernize, do not try to please everyone.
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Agreed.
Everywhere this was attempted, it failed.
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So…

…guitar choirs to the croonings of Jerry Garcia and Gordon Lightfoot are out the window?😄
 
Well…I am sure there is appeal somewhere.

But that shouldn’t be in the liturgy.

If you want to attract people, it is much easier with something new and unique. That is the old liturgy.

If you want to try modernization, do it in the church Hall.
 
You have some excellent suggestions already.

What not to do is to try to repackage the liturgy in a way that you believe attracts the young. Young adults and teens see through it, and it can appear quite condescending.

Are there a lot of stay-at-home parents in your area? A daytime book club, Bible study, or adult education session with free childcare would be a godsend to young parents. The younger generations are quite isolated, and building a community among them within your parish will provide a strong foundation for keeping it alive.

If you don’t already have it, develop and highly publicize a program to welcome back lapsed Catholics.
 
Evening masses on weekdays.

Many parishes hold their weekday masses at times making it virtually impossible for working people to attend.

During the time I lapsed from attending Mass it was actually weekday masses that helped me get back in. One parish that I passed through between work and home would hold a Latin Mass on the evenings of two working days every week and I would occasionally go there on my way home from work. That was often a spontaenous decision, if the time allowed. I was surprised to observe that the average age at that mass was actually younger than at Sunday mass in my (much more progressive) home parish.

Sunday masses were much more difficult for us at that time because either my wife or I always had an excuse of some description and we ended up missing most Sundays. But by going by myself initially that was less of a problem. Then I slowly got drawn into that community and other social activities and my wife got interested too and finally we started doing Sundays more regularly too.
 
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Of course, prayer and the sacraments are key, as is support from the pastor.

It is also very worth reflecting on what Jesus did. When God became Incarnate, how did he choose to reach the ends of the earth?

You can see a sort of tiered approach with expanding concentric circles. There was the one: Peter. The three: Peter, James, and John. The 12: the apostles. The 72: the larger group of disciples. And there were the multitudes who followed him around (like the feeding of the 5,000, etc.).

It’s the same way God worked in the Old Testament starting with a couple (Adam & Eve), and moving on to a family (Noah), a tribe (Abraham), a nation (Moses), and a kingdom (David).

God starts small, and he starts with individuals.

Jesus did not physically go to every place on earth and speak to every single person. He did not simply post flyers inviting everyone to come hear him speak at the local convention center.

He invested most of his time and attention to a small group of individuals. He formed them. He prepared them over the course of several years so that they could continue his ministry when he was gone.

I think a good parish plan seeks to reach all these audiences as Jesus did, particularly investing in individuals. Who are the core group of parish leaders? Invest in their formation. Pray for them daily by name. Pray with them frequently. Evangelization is most successful when it is person-to-person.

We don’t want to ignore the “multitudes,” of course. Jesus didn’t either. It’s not as though he waited until Peter and the apostles were ready before he also reached out to others. But even when there are large group gatherings, those types of events only bear fruit in the long term if there are also these one-on-one connections happening in the parish.

So circling back to the beginning, prayer and the sacraments are really the gas in the tank to make the whole apparatus move. They are the point of contact and the tent poles around which we gather.

Sorry for the long post. 😊 This is something that is always on my mind and close to my heart.
 
I think even a playgroup where the moms can chat and keep an eye on the kids would be helpful. TBH I don’t think (after the abuse scandals) people want to leave their small children unsupervised with the Catholic Church, sadly.
Do you have a school? How does it compare to the local public school?
 
1ke said:
Have babysitting available for events.
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As usual, 1ke and I have similar ideas. There are two types of young people: Young with no kids who are busy in the evening with entry level jobs or socializing. Young people that are married with kids. To get to the first group, my parish started Scripture & Spirits. We take over a local bar and put on something long the lines of Theology on Tap. We get a handful of these youngsters - some who don’t even go to Mass. For the other group with kids, have something at church in the evening and have the nursery staffed. We have paid staff that run the nursery on Sundays and would have to get them for evening events.
 
We have very well-attended drop-off programs for small children at our parish. Volunteers go through Safe Environment training and always work in pairs. There are cameras everywhere. While a handful of parents may still feel cautious, most of us feel comfortable dropping off our children.

I’d say that drop-off programs are certainly worth trying. Speaking from personal experience, I know that a lot of stay-at-home moms relish the opportunity to have an intelligent conversation at a book club or however much time they can get away with at Adoration.
 
I echo a lot of what people have said above, but also with some personal experience.
Reverent and prayerful Daily Mass and frequent Confession
Adoration
Personal invitation to neighbors to “Come and see.” A “learn about Catholicism” session. A workshop on prayer. An invitation to those fallen away from the Church to rediscover it. A young person’s retreat.
Sacred music. Hymn singing.
People in my area at least don’t really want another book club or bingo night. They want to be led back to reverence for God.
Don’t worry if it starts small. That’s the way God often works.
 
The online presence should have mass and confession times prominent in the home page. Few people look at a parish’s website for anything else.
 
I think a mistake is to view it as some sort of marketing approach, trying to attract people and reach a wider audience. I think we should realise that we, as humans, are not in control, I think a parish that is in difficulties should focus predominantly on prayer and liturgy., rather than try to find a human solution. Increasing prayer in the parish, reverent liturgy, encouraging silence, and try to increase adoration of the Eucharist, exposition of the Eucharist and Benediction etc.

This might run counter to our human instincts where we are governed by action plans, initiatives, trying to attract others etc, but I do think we need to remember that the Church is not a man-made organisation and we humans are not in control. Yes, try other things, but I believe the prime focus ought to be on prayer and liturgy.
 
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