Mass exodus confounds diocese

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In such a secular country, I wonder why people still want to be associated with a Church they do not want any part of?
 
I live in western New York now, and in my parish the pews are pretty full. There is some anger about all the church consolidations of the past few years, and the central leadership seems as anemic and out of touch as it does in any large organization. Some of these parishes were central to the identity of some of the churchgoers. One nearby parish is petitioning the Vatican to remain open in contradiction to the bishop. If I stop there on a weekday, I always put in the same offering I do with my regular parish.

But that being said, when you get to church, the people are engaged in the Liturgy. It’s definitely not the “Sunday obligation” attendance I saw when I was a kid. And in one parish I regularly attend weekday afternoon Mass, there are almost always around 75 people there. That isn’t a lot, but it’s quite a few more than you would expect for a weekday afternoon.

We are seeing adult converts, and some reverts as well. The picture definitely isn’t as bleak as the news article paints it.

My own background? I’m a cradle Catholic, and on Mom’s side of the family (the Iroquois side,) my ancestors were among the first converts among the natives of this continent. Interestingly enough, Grandma was always the devout one, and rounded us kids up and took us to church on Sundays, where we had better mind ourselves. Mom liked God and Jesus well enough but didn’t like the church people (the European descent people off the reservation where we went to church.) She thought they looked down on her because of her race, and while I never actually experienced that, there were a lot of mean people around in those days. Dad, on the other hand, was Italian, and so you can guess what the religious background was there. When we moved to New York City, so I could further my ballet studies, Mom still didn’t go to church, but enrolled us girls in Catholic school. That, and our parish, were right down the street so it wasn’t at all difficult to go to Mass.

What I think the only good thing that came out of some church closings around here was the increased diversity of congregations (you don’t have an Italian parish, a Polish parish, etc. so much anymore,) it tells me that we Catholics ought to be reminded that the actual word “catholic” means “universal,” and we perhaps should be more welcoming towards all, and market that a lot better than we have done.
 
When I was away from the church, I still defined myself as ‘catholic’ even if I wasn’t going to mass regularly. Sometimes it’s like an ethnic identifier. The good thing about that, at least with me, is that because I identified myself as being catholic, I came back to the catholic church. There’s always hope!
 
It is sad to say, but the dioceses making up the entire Erie Canal basin are floundering in the wilderness.

I know next to nothing about Buffalo’s bishop, but the other ones toward the east are not paragons of faith and fidelity. I can say that I have not heard Buffalo’s Bishop in news stories about living affirmative orthodoxy, unlike say e.g., Chaput, Olmstead, Dolan, etc.

Some upcoming retirements will likely help. So will prayers.
 
thomasf said:
When I was away from the church, I still defined myself as ‘catholic’ even if I wasn’t going to mass regularly. Sometimes it’s like an ethnic identifier. The good thing about that, at least with me, is that because I identified myself as being catholic, I came back to the catholic church. There’s always hope!
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Yes thomas,“Hope can be defined as faith directed toward the future” Welcome home,have a joyous Easter horgan
 
I would like to post that You are a walking adveertisement of The Church and the Christ it proclaims,You take the Church out of its four walls and make it live in the everyday affairs of life.In fact,when people think of our Church,they think of YOU.Some have the idea that bishops 7 priests are the Church.It is true that they speak for the Church,declare what it stands for and invites people into community.Any preaching in the pulpit is fruitless unless it is reflected in the lives of the members of its congregration.Our Church is meassured not so much by what its leaders say by by what YOU do.You are the Church’s product and the validation of its claims.Our Chruch claims to have a Gospel that will make people ew,opening to them a more satisfying life;you are the demonstration of that claim. You are the cell of the living church.Without you,the Church has no life. In Australia we have a saying “The grass is greener on the other side of the fence” Reading CAF threads it is enouraging to read of more and more lapsed Catholics returning home after so many years in the wilderness… Alleluia let us open our arms to welcome them!..horgan
 
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