Ping!
I know in my local hood Cathoicism is really dying but bad news lots of Latino are becoming Pencostal or Southern Baptist
There is local church that has two Spanish language service after 9am church service back to back I think in Latino community especially in SO CAL they do want that lively music
I’m thinking that the Archdiocese should hang on to the properties. The people will come back. But it will be a slow process.
It’s up to each and every one of us to evangelize and call these people back.
Why isn’t St. Michael’s a commuter church? My parish, St. Agnes, is right near Grand Central. It’s filled with worshipers. Of course, the Tridentine Mass on Sunday doesn’t bring them in but it does bring worshipers from places where there is no such Mass.
Very upsetting. I’m from Corpus Christi parish (Upper West Side, used to be the Columbia U parish) and, surprisingly enough, it looks as if Corpus Christi will survive and be the university parish once again.
But I’m associated with an historic site in Florida that is connected with St James Parish on the Lower East Side - founded in the early 19th century by a priest who is a Venerable now and will probably be declared a saint later, in the next papacy - which is probably going to be “merged,” as they politely say, even though it’s functional, has a priest, and has a congregation that can and wants to support it. But I guess unless you hit suburban level congregations, Cdl Dolan isn’t interested.
I hope St. Michael’s survives. It’s always been one of my favorite churches, and now that Fr Rutler is there, I always make an attempt to visit it for mass when I’m back in NY.
Yes, I am concerned about Father Rutler too. The day after Easter, 2005, when we had come into the Catholic Church, we flew to NYC for the week. As we came up Park Avenue, we passed Our Savior (38th). You could peek in - it was dark, full of candles, just the most beautiful little church. I said, “That is the church I want to attend.” It was just as beautiful inside - dark and holy, full of candles. And then!! Father Rutler came out for Mass, our dear friend from EWTN.
We met with him after mass, and he told us about the beautiful painting over the altar - a copy of Christ Pantocrator, from St. Catherine’s in the Sinai. He had seen it at the Met and hired a Chinese artist to recreate it. When the man finished, he joined the Catholic Church.
Visit if you are ever in NYC.