Church Closings Seem Directly Tied to Faithfulness
Church Closings Seem Directly Tied to Faithfulness
11 14 , 22:17 Filed in: News
Many Catholic churches are closing or merging their parishes with other parishes. The reason: lack of funds. So looking at this in purely financial terms, what makes some churches thrive financially and others not?
It is interesting to note an example of a Catholic church in my hometown who is financially thriving. In fact it just added a catechism building. Three miles down from the financially thriving church we hear rumors of another church that is facing financial problems. What is the difference between the two? Well, the church that is thriving holds strong to the Teaching of the Catholic Church. It is not afraid to talk about hard issues, it has a good marriage preparation class, it has many children, youth and adult ministries/bible studies, it has a program for homeschooling parents who don't want there kids to be corrupted by today's secular and liberal teachers, and best of all it offers the sacraments often. The thriving church has Confessions and Masses three times a day during the weekdays and even more on Saturdays and Sundays. The financially thriving church instructs us to receive the Eucharist on our knees and in the mouth. The tabernacle in the financially thriving church is in the front-middle of the church.
The not-so-financially thriving church has confessions only once a week (unless if someone makes an appointment). It does not seem as willing to take a strong moral stance on citizen responsibility. It has good number of Mass times, but not as many as the financial thriving church. The Eucharist is given in the hand. The tabernacle is located on the side. The not-so-financially thriving church has one big attraction to faithful Catholics, 24 hour Eucharist adoration which is utilized by many including people from other churches.
It seems to this writer that the not-so-financially thriving church has its biggest success in their 24 hour Eucharist adoration chapel. It is no surprise that Jesus is what people want to come to church for. In fact they want the real Jesus and they want Him all the time. So if I was the financial planner for the not-so-financially thriving church I would recommend that it learns something from the financially thriving church and its own experience of what people want, which is Jesus. This means frequent confession times, where parishioner meet our Lord, frequent Bible studies, ministries, solid marriage preparation classes, and reverent reception of our blessed Lord in the Eucharist. This means preaching the truth boldly because to paraphrase Jesus whoever hears the Truth hears His voice. It also means putting Jesus in most reverent place in the Church (usually the front-middle).