Diminishing Congregations; What must we do?

Diminishing Congregations; What must we do?

Let’s take a look at what the Church attendance was like 52 years ago when I was ordained.  I remember my pastor telling me that not too many years ago when he was ordained a priest that there was a time when after priests were ordained there were some who were told to go home since there were too many to place in parishes.  An African priest I know very well said almost the same thing regarding his diocese in Africa that there were many priests or seminarians looking to be assigned a parish.  Today, we can only wonder what it would be like to have that luxury of where to put newly ordained priests.  Although the number of ordained men are fewer, the more crucial problem is how many parishes are closing.  Just a couple of months ago the Pittsburgh Diocese closed seven more parish churches.  Lack of worshipers and the cost of keeping most of them open was becoming too expensive without enough money coming from too few attendees.  What has happened?

Our diocese is not an odd problem of diminishing population, it is a sign of a more acute problem that exists world wide with the Church of Christ no longer holding a promise of eternal life.  We can blame homilies, music that seemed to go out of style for some, or the scandals of the past a couple of years ago as reasons for empty pews. But these are not the culprits of a lack of Church interests.  There lies right before us one demon we may call an attack by Satan and his army of angels that will induce reasons to avoid Church and instituted religions that are successful in placing more important factions that say, “You can always return to church if you are bored. "That has not happened to most who choose money, pleasure, or notoriety.”

We would like to blame higher education in universities that promote the essence of science instead of faith in God, or the lack of parental guidance that should be keeping the premise of faith that our grand-parents taught our parents.  However, what did our own semblance of spiritual adherence suddenly slip away and the understanding of what Christmas and Easter really mean as our souls are in jeopardy from losing the sacraments we were raised with?  

The reality of our faith is so important that Jesus spent a lot of time telling us how crucial Catechetical understanding is and we should listen carefully to what these warnings mean to all of us.  “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only   the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?  Did we not drive our demons in your name?  Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?”  Then I will declare to them solemnly, “I never knew you.  Depart from me, you evildoers.”  (Mt 7: 21 -23).

This is a hard reality for many who seem to drift with the flow of those who appear to believe that apostasy is just a theological word that is for other people; not themselves.  We may assume that the recent parishioners who just went through Lenten devotions and attended Easter Mass were beyond any negative dissolutions.  But there could be a few who missed the mark of finding Christ in their hearts instead of going through the printed words of a program for the service.  In a short amount of time perhaps these will prove me wrong.  It’s exactly what Jesus inferred when he spoke so profoundly.   That is a sign of what apostasy is and touching many.  Looking for a profound reason to drift away from Church is not the problem;  It is an absolute truth when we push Christ and his legacy of “I am the way, the truth, and the life; asserting his exclusive role in reconciling humanity to God.  “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.  And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”  (Jn 14: 12 - 14).

Belief in Christ, his promises to us, and the very understanding that he is Truth; We will be the ones who shall be admitted to heaven at the end of the age.

Ralph B. Hathaway