Size of churches

[JW55]

Most of the Eastern Catholic Churches I am aware of are small in membership. Do some of the individual Eastern Catholic churches in the US have large memberships?

I guess a couple of follow-up questions to that might be:

Are the Eastern Catholic Churches showing growth in membership or losing members? What would encourage an increase in membership. Finally if most churches are small in numbers, what do you attribute that to?

Thanks.

 

[Cluny]

Some Eastern Catholic churches in the US are indeed quite large.

Look at the site for the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Philadelphia, for example. It’s VERY big.

Holy Transfiguration Melkite Church in Virginia is also very big–at least two priests and several deacons.

However, it is customary, except in a cathedral, to have only ONE Sunday and Feast Day Divine LIturgy in the Eastern tradition.

 

[Patchunky]

However, it is customary, except in a cathedral, to have only ONE Sunday and Feast Day Divine LIturgy in the Eastern tradition.

However, that isn’t practical in this country when a church serves a large metropolitian area as opposed to serving a small village in the Old country…

 

[KyivAndrew]

I can only speak to Ukrainian Catholic Churches. It all depends where you are located in North America. The bigger Ukrainian parishes in Canada are in Toronto, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. I think for the U.S. you look at Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and the north-east states, Ohio, New Jersey, Connecticut, etc. Don’t know if this helps.

God Bless.

 

[bkovacs]

Keep in mind that the bigger the parish, the more you feel like a number. I have always preferred smaller parishes.

 

[Mrs_V]

Keep in mind that the bigger the parish, the more you feel like a number. I have always preferred smaller parishes.

I’ve felt this way in the past - but I’ve figured out that getting involved in church activities makes that ‘just a number’ feeling go away very quickly no matter what the parish size. God bless.

 

[Patchunky]

Keep in mind that the bigger the parish, the more you feel like a number. I have always preferred smaller parishes.

Unfortunately, the smaller the parish, the greater the financial burden on each family and in today’s economic times, this is often not very good, especially for those on a fixed income… hence the number of parishes closing and merging in order keep a parish open…