More Parish Closings Nationwide - What Are We to Learn and Do?

Archdiocese of Washington ^ | 05-08-17 | Msgr. Charles Pope

[Salvation]

More Parish Closings Nationwide - What Are We to Learn and Do?

Msgr. Charles Pope • May 8, 2017 •

It was recently announced that a substantial number of Catholic parishes will be closing in Connecticut. This is just the latest in a national trend that is likely to affect the diocese where you live, especially in the north. I’d like to offer some rather quick thoughts and then ponder what I think is the root cause for our decline.

1. Bishops don’t close parishes, people do. While it may be juridically true that bishops formally certify or give recognition to the opening, closing, and merging of parishes, it is ultimately God’s people who create or withdraw the need for a parish. The hard truth is that Catholics are contracepting and aborting in large numbers, thus depleting our ranks. Further, in most urban areas of the northeast, barely 15% of Catholics attend Mass regularly. In comparison, during the first half of the 20^th century, when many of the parishes being closed today were being built, nearly 85% of Catholics attended Mass regularly. It is unrealistic for Catholics to expect that parishes should not be closed in significant numbers when there is so little attendance and concomitant support.
2. Some point out that large numbers of Catholics have left the Northeast and headed south and west. That helps to explain why many parishes in the south and southwest are growing (even booming), but it does not mean that the overall population of the Northeast has dropped dramatically. To some degree, there has been a failure to evangelize, but the deepest wounds are in the decline of Mass attendance and our failure to hand on the faith. We are currently burying the last generation to be taught that Sunday Mass was an obligation to be met under pain of mortal sin.
3. There is shared responsibility. It is easy to be angry at bishops and priests when parishes must be closed. Years of poor catechesis, a lack of effective preaching, and poorly celebrated liturgies have taken their toll and the clergy bear the first responsibility in this. However, dissent and division among the faithful and a drifting from the practice of the faith are also big factors. Many priest who do preach firmly and insist on clear doctrine are made to pay dearly.
4. At the end of day, the clergy cannot take full responsibility for the problem, nor can they address it alone. Why? Because shepherds don’t have sheep, sheep have sheep. Evangelization cannot be just a problem for the rectory; it is ultimately a family problem. Parents and grandparents must do more to summon their children home and witness the power of the liturgy and sacraments to transform.
5. Many blame the liturgy for the low attendance. While the liturgy as commonly celebrated today can seem bland and uninspiring, and much modern Church music “banal” (as the Pope recently remarked), the proposed solutions are bewildering in number and even where implemented attract only small numbers. For example, some have cheered the reintroduction of the Traditional Latin Mass, a form of the Mass that I happen to love. However, I don’t know of a single diocese in this country in which the number of Catholics attending that form accounts for more than 1% of all Mass attendees. Thus, the problem seems deeper than the external forms.
6. The heart of the problem is an overall malaise. There is little urgency; few seem to feel the need for the faith, the Church, the sacraments, or the Word of God. In my opinion, a steady diet of universalism (the unbiblical notion that all or the vast majority of people will be saved, no matter what) inside the Church, and a steady diet of pluralism and relativism outside the Church have played the largest role in the problem. There’s no real problem seen, no hurry, no need for what we offer. At best we are just one product on the shelf of a boutique dedicated to the non-essential niceties that people dabble in if they have the time. The common view in our culture is that religion is a nice little way of accessorizing your life, but otherwise, who cares?

Given what I think is the root cause, how should we begin to stop the steady erosion of the practice of Catholic faith? I would agree with Dr. Ralph Martin that the first step must be to revive a more biblical vision of urgency regarding salvation. Just because many people—even among the clergy—say that there isn’t a problem doesn’t mean that there isn’t one.

Jesus was far more sober in assessing the situation. He devoted many parables and warnings to our need to attend to the salvation He offers. There are the sheep and the goats, those on the right and those on the left, the wise virgins and the foolish ones, those ready for the master’s return and those who are not, those who will hear, “Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” and those who will hear, “Depart from me. I know you not.” Jesus noted that the road to damnation was wide and many were on it, and “only a few” were on the narrow road to salvation (Matt 7:13-14).

But just try to tell any of this to most people today and see what kind of response you get. My sense is that urgency is at an all-time low. Yet biblically, directly from Jesus Himself, it is clear that the likelihood of being saved is greatly reduced when one does not repent regularly and walk in the faith actively, including a heavy dose of Scripture and frequent reception of the sacraments.

Yet few people speak this way today. Many dismiss such speech as “fear-based” argument. The fact is, however, that some things should be feared, including our tendency to be hard-hearted and hard-headed, to prefer passing things and error to eternal truths. Running about in a panic is not helpful; we need sober acceptance of our vital need for the sacraments, the proclaimed Word, holy fellowship, and the transformative power of the liturgy.

Until this sober appreciation is recovered by many and demonstrated by the few of us who remain, the steady erosion seems likely to continue. Church closings may be “coming soon to a neighborhood near you.” It is sad to lose buildings, many of them works of art, but it is even sadder to ponder the human loss that the empty buildings represent.

[ADSUM]

While I am not the Judge like Jesus nor have His Mercy, I have a concern that many may not reach Heaven based on my observations.

1) Lack of attendance at Mass, even among very active parishes (perhaps 30%). Lack of Confession.
2) Observed in a South American “Catholic” and European countries very low attendance, mostly elderly women.
3) The acceptance of divorce, abortion,same sex marriage, etc.
4) Lack of family structure, neighbor and community (church) support.
5) Lack of strong moral principles - both in society and the church.
6) That people can choose from 30,000 christian churches and more forming each year. Chose your own religion.
7) That many have left the Catholic faith.
8) That part of the Catholic leadership has gone the ways of the world and away from the path of Christ.
9) That many expect government to provide for their needs and not Christ (and self reliance).
10) That we do not honor God and place our trust in Him.

We have been warned by the Lady of Fatima. Let us pray and work together to bring our friends and enemies to God.

[Biggirl]

Are you sure?

Be careful because remember what Jesus warned about we do not know the day or the time. Only the Father knows that.

[Biggirl]

Plus we have a Pope who become an embarrassment.

[MeganC]

Roman Catholicism is monolithic, staid, and stodgy. Much like how the Vatican itself is the last remnant of a vanished empire the Church itself is a remnant of a vanishing and declining faith...at least in Europe and America.

The leadership of Pope Jimmy Carter (Francis) is facilitating malaise.

What is deeply needed is a Pope Donald Trump (not sure who that would be) who would reinvigorate the faithful, purge the church of the homosexuals who dominate it, purge the church of the heretical feminists, and purge the church of those who promote apostasy and heresy.

In short what is needed is a fundamentalist, militant, evangelical revival in the Roman Catholic Church.

I pray that it happens.

I may not be a Catholic but the world is a better place with the Catholic church in it and I pray for its success and prosperity.

[Salvation]

But always remember that priests are way down on the list — even behind non-Catholic ministers, etc.

[Biggirl]

Correction: who has become an embarrassment.

[Biggirl]

Yet the old msm put a hot spotlight on the RCC before going after the non-ministers.

[unread]

"Parishes close when churches adopt a “me too” policy towards the values, morals, and beliefs of secular culture. When that happens, the church is deemed expendable."

Sure, why go to church to learn those values when you can learn them down on the street corner...

The sooner the church starts removing the sodomites and starts telling the truth the sooner they will be on the road to recovery.....

[Biggirl]

The only cardinal who comes to my mine would be Raymond Burke. He is no nonsense IMHO.

[Ace's Dad]

Many of the parishes in Minneapolis have been filled with illegals and the services are in Spanish as the Americans have stopped coming.

Not the worst of affairs. There was a parish in the "German Village" section of Columbus, Ohio where a German mass was held when I lived there in the late Sixties.

Better than the several poor alternatives.

[Biggirl]

Correction: the non-Catholic ministers.

[SubMareener]

Yes. The stars and the Scriptures have identified a two day period, so we still don’t know the day or the hour. It corresponds to the Feast of Trumpets which is characterized as a two day period whose end , the last Trumpet, is determined by the High Priest.

[jmaroneps37]

For a long time I have thought this but never said it: Vatican II fixed a lot of things that weren’t broken. I’m 71 and remember packed masses pre Vatican II. Mass attendance started to drift downward when the wrong people were allowed to become priests. Satan is winning for now - which of course is forever for some, but Jesus will remember those who stood with him even when Satan was winning 28 to 3 in the middle of the third quarter. Don’t waver teach your children the way to heaven and pray the rosary each day.

[Biggirl]

Rather we could be closer to a new Pentecost rather then the end of the age or a spiritual revival. The dark of the night before the dawn.

The feast of trumpets is a Jewish feast BTW.

[ealgeone]

Jesus was far more sober in assessing the situation. He devoted many parables and warnings to our need to attend to the salvation He offers. There are the sheep and the goats, those on the right and those on the left, the wise virgins and the foolish ones, those ready for the master’s return and those who are not, those who will hear, “Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” and those who will hear, “Depart from me. I know you not.” Jesus noted that the road to damnation was wide and many were on it, and “only a few” were on the narrow road to salvation (Matt 7:13-14).

If Roman Catholicism would stick with this and drop their false teachings on the need for Mary for salvation they'd be on to the Truth.

[SubMareener]

So that is your problem. Sorry but Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. We Gentiles are just grafted into the true vine as the Tanach tells us.

[BlessedBeGod]

If Roman Catholicism would stick with this and drop their false teachings on the need for Mary for salvation they'd be on to the Truth.

This thread was an excellent discussion of the article until you showed up. Thanks for ruining what was an intelligent discussion.

[Harpotoo]

With this pope what’s the point in staying catholic?

[BlessedBeGod]

With this pope what’s the point in staying catholic?

If you believe it's the true Church, no pope would discourage you from staying. I didn't leave the US when that POS Obama was elected president (or Clinton, either, for that matter). I won't leave something infinitely more important like the Catholic Church just because there's a heretic as Pope.

Francis is temporary. Hell is forever.

[Biggirl]

But that was when He walked on this earth. He is in Heaven now as the King.

We do not know the day or the hour and what you would be regarded as error.