How to renew dying parish?

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Of course the first priority is to pray, especially of you can get a group (even two people) interceding and fasting, seeking God’s direction.

Re; Latin Mass, this can be a good idea, but only if the current priest is really interested in this. You don’t want to start something now, have it end, then it’s harder to start again later.

Consider a weekly charismatic prayer meeting. This should include Marian spirituality, and thoroughly Catholic identity.

This can attract a few who seek any kind of spiritual growth, but also some who are hurting, I’m sure you have many in your city.
 
As a 20 year old, echoing the sentiment felt by many I know:

*If possible, incorporating Latin Mass at least once a week

*More worker-friendly confession times and activity times. Many of the parishes around here, save for a new EF parish that is largely composed of people and families in their 20s and 30s, are geared toward retirees. I am unable to participate in parish events at 1:00 if I don’t get off work until 5:00. I work weekends, and many MANY of our parishes only offer reconciliation at 3:00 on Saturdays. This is incredibly inconvenient.

*More events that facilitate community, childcare is a good one, mom’s groups, I liked the suggestion of a priestly Q&A sesh, more retreats, my archdiocese of will often bus parishioners from the suburbs to big, historic churches in the city for certain feast days of holy days of obligation. This is a great deal of fun and a good bonding activity.
 
At the risk of pointing out the obvious, doing more of what isn’t working won’t get results…
 
Limoncello4021 said:
Don’t worry if it starts small. That’s the way God often works.
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THIS

I saw a parish with a handful of young people interested in learning beyond confirmation class. The parish decided not to have more advanced classes since there were so few interested.

major fail
 
Thanks, Becoming a Parish of Intentional Disciples looks interesting. Probably not but I’ll be checking them out.
 
I’d advise reading FID first, to understand the foundational principles. They are short books, and they are very powerful.
 
There are many wonderful suggestions here. A weekday Mass after work was my foot in the door. The regular attendants were three elderly ladies and they made a point to make me feel welcomed. That meant a great deal to me. So, I also suggest encouraging your congregation to actively welcome visitors and new people. Also encourage more people to be involved by asking for volunteers during your announcements. 🙂

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I said that the prime focus should be prayer and liturgy, also said there is nothing wrong with trying other things. Is there a problem with that? Should other things be the prime focus above prayer and liturgy?

Is the Church simply a human organisation, with humans in control, rushing around doing human things?
 
Brendan_64 said:
I said that the prime focus should be prayer and liturgy, also said there is nothing wrong with trying other things. Is there a problem with that? Should other things be the prime focus above prayer and liturgy?
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The question is phrased in a rhetorical way.

But I don’t see why one should exclude the other. There are different ways to pray and you can do new things and other things while praying.

It’'s more a question of, do you want to lock yourself into a room and pray for a big miracle, or is it better to open the door and change some things and just pray for a small miracle?

A bit like the story of the priest who prays every day asking to win the lottery. Finally he gets a little angry and says, “God, I have lived such a perfect Catholic life, why can you not let me win the lottery, just once?”, and God replies “why don’t you meet me half way and actually buy a ticket?”
 
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You make some good points. I am sorry you had such difficulty.

Changing the status quo, even if done to build the faith and bring people to salvation is incredibly difficult. I gave a solution for a general parish but the reality is there won’t be enough Priests who are willing or motivated to change the status quo.

The restoration of the Church will have to come from the laity. Lay leaders stepping up to form groups of disciples which form groups of disciples. Once in a while have a Priest in for Confession and a Eucharist service. Some refer to this the Benedict option, though I refer to it as being a Christian…

Again, sorry for your difficulty.
 
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ChurchSoldier said:
Changing the status quo, even if done to build the faith and bring people to salvation is incredibly difficult. I gave a solution for a general parish but the reality is there won’t be enough Priests who are willing or motivated to change the status quo.

The restoration of the Church will have to come from the laity. Lay leaders stepping up to form groups of disciples which form groups of disciples. Once in a while have a Priest in for Confession and a Eucharist service. Some refer to this the Benedict option, though I refer to it as being a Christian…
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I would have to respectfully disagree with you on that. I believe that the problem we face in the West is not that we have too few priests for the number of laity, but that we have too few laity for the number of priests. I believe that we, in the West, have a much higher ratio of priests to practising laity than in other parts of the world. Perhaps we have too many priests employed in the wrong way, or perhaps we have too many small parishes? In my diocese we hear about a shortage of priests, but within 35 minutes drive of my house I think there are about 10 Catholic churches (some in neighbouring dioceses) and are all these churches full at Mass? I would doubt it. That strikes me a shortage of laity more than a shortage of priests.

There is also, I believe, an issue with thinking in terms of numbers. I don’t think we ought to get overly focussed with numbers either way. I think the Church ought to be focussed on proclaiming the Gospel and Church teachings and after that what will be will be.

I do not think ‘lay leaders’ is the way forward. I do not think we need hierarchies within the laity, as that sets certain members of the laity above others, creating a hierarchical tier. Eucharistic services are not the way forward, in my opinion. This also, I believe results in a clericalisation of the laity. I think it also downplays (perhaps even removes) the sacrificial nature of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and could portray the Eucharist as something that we simply come to receive, rather than come to witness the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
 
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