jim1130:
The proliferation of the non-denominational mega-churches in this country actually scares me (In an interesting perspective, the competition among these churches smells of evolution, that only the strong will survive). We’re talking about 10,000-20,000 seat auditoriums where some dynamic speaker assigns responsibility to speak the truth on behalf of Christ. Is this feeling (that the appearance of mega-churches is scary) shared by other Catholics? Or am I just seeing “the glass is half-full”?
As most of my life has been spent in the southern states, I first began to notice the building of non-denominational ‘mega-churches’ (the first to seat 10,000+) in the early 1970’s, usually located in ‘white flight’ suburbs where, initially, land was cheap and whole communities were being developed and homes snapped up as quickly as they could be completed. It seemed to be then - and, as I somewhat kept up with the movement even now - that these churches arose out of a sort of ‘cult’ built around one dynamic, charismatic, highly personable preacher, definitely of the evangelical mold and sometimes very close to fundamentalism, who was not only a dynamic speaker with the whole of the New Testament (and portions of the Old) committed to memory - and also one who was highly organized, and if not a financial wizard then having an almost uncanny ability to hire those who were and to woo away from other churches assistant pastors and staff who shared his goals.
However. what I have observed is that the ‘cult’ surrounding the founding pastor could last for decades but, except in rare circumstances, it would eventually flounder or the pastor who was not a young man when he started his church and for reasons of age alone would need to retire and his replacement - no matter how well groomed for the job - would lack some of the qualities that led the membership to grow so large as to be able to establish the mega-churches in the first place, or there would arise doctrinal differences among certain members so that they split off and erected smaller buildings not leaving behind enough members to support the mortgage and upkeep of the mega-church. Within 2-3 decades the mega-church would either be sold outright and torn down, find itself still able to function although with a 12,000 seat church drawing only 2,000 or so members each Sunday, be sold to another non-denominational organization with it’s own dynamic, charismatic, highly personable preacher, sold to an established denomination who would renovate the building so that it served a smaller congregation without having embarrassingly empty pews, or simply forfeited to creditors who would likely exercise one of the already mentioned scenarios or, better yet, find a buyer who would buy what was standing, tear it down, and build a mega-new-car-dealership.
I suppose that some may have lasted, just none of which I am personally aware. The large, but not overly large, churches of established protestant denominations that were ‘downtown’ in the southern states did not fare well under white flight to the suburbs, I have to add. Some did last, with members willing to make a 60-80 roundtrip drive to church every Sunday. Diocesan cathedrals did a bit better - as there were already Catholic communities that had been built nearby cathedrals, these family homes stayed in the family - but there was still a big, big difference in cathedral attendance in 1967 compared to 2003: the pews packed in '67, even though the Catholic population had exploded due to the great influx of carpetbagger northerners beginning in the late 1970’s. That explosion led to the very fast building of new suburban parishes (often which still feature some of the most hideous ‘spirit of Vatican II’ architecture that can be imagined (and some that is better just left alone in the imagination as it could result in nightmares).
So, no, I really don’t share your fright. The non-denominational mega-churches seem to come and go within a matter of decades. And for Catholic churches there is first the matter of not losing membership (which I think, as the late Holy Father seemed to think) is a matter of on-going participatory catechesis, as well as the realization that as (in many locales - not some place such as Manhattan) urban sprawl continues even fairly ‘new’ parishes may need to be abandoned in order for a ‘newer’ parish to be established to meet the needs of both the ‘older’ a newer community.
Not to worry - the Church has been through worse times than these. American Catholics will remain faithful Catholics as long as they do not give in to what is still (and maybe larger) false god of “Americanism” (concerning a recent look at Americanism click
here ) and the mega-churches, if they pose a threat at all is, at best, a temporary one I believe.
