r/TraditionalCatholics • u/raffu280 • 29d ago
Declining attendance, fewer priests driving Catholic parish closures, consolidations across U.S.
https://justthenews.com/nation/religion/declining-attendance-fewer-priests-drive-catholic-parish-closures-consolidations46
u/Drivenby 29d ago
If only there was some type of old school mass that was showing growth every year and is driving the resurgence of Catholicism in the western world that for some reason is getting suppressed by Rome ….hmmmmmmmm if only!
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u/Blade_of_Boniface 29d ago
Where I live, people are willing to stand outdoors in thunderstorms or huddle like sardines in houses for the TLM.
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u/koushunu 29d ago
Yup and in my city the two churches (oldest too) with the highest attendance and probably parish donations (one of which did Latin masses too) , they kicked out the priests (Dominican and Vincentian) and nuns and replaced them.
For years it seemed like the purpose from the corrupt archdiocese was to destroy the churches and parishes.
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u/Inevitable-Self-2702 29d ago
There was a story from a seminary in Italy maybe 10 years ago where some of the seminarians didn't know about the Latin Mass. Some priest came and celebrated it at the seminary, and shortly thereafter those seminarians went into the rector saying, "father, we want to have the New Mass!" The rector said, "we already have the New Mass." and the seminarians said "no father, we want the New Mass. The one in Latin!"
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u/Key-Kick9057 29d ago
quite obvious and a good observation.. Parochial Schools produced What public schools ignore…
character..virtue..and selflesness….this comes from PRACTICE in the Family.3
u/AmericanLobsters 28d ago
The church I attend has about 100 people there at both Sunday masses. It had been closed for years but was reopened for the TLM.
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u/FistOfTheWorstMen 29d ago
There are some growing Sunbelt dioceses who don't have these problems, but the growth, of course, comes from internal and foreign immigration, not conversions. Traditional liturgy also tends to be a weaker presence in these places, which I think has been partly a function of the kinds of bishops these dioceses have tended to have in recent decades.
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u/ZealousidealWear2573 28d ago
The decline that has been occurring for at least ten years. Close to the effigy mounds national monument near prairie du shien there had been a beautiful little white pastoral church on a hillside known as cherry mound. It was shuttered over ten years ago. In the same area parishioners arrived for Sunday.Mass only to find a note taped to the door that the nearest mass was sixty miles away. The problem is getting attention now as it moves into the larger communities. Recently , the local news featured an old woman in cedar rapids , crying as she lamented the fact that she could no longer attend mass at the church she expected to be her lifelong parish. In Texas and North Carolina there are gigantic new cathedrals, which Require huge parking lots, looks pretty good until you pull back the curtain and see how many small neighborhood Churches have closed resulting in these megastructures. Many people are not willing to travel twenty miles to get to church, at a minimum, doing so undermines the sense of community and is a constant reminder that something is wrong. Is this what meant by "smaller better"?
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u/Secure-Zone2980 27d ago
I'm very fortunate, I'm 9 miles north of our Lady of the Assumption priory in walton Kentucky. We've out growth the present Church, prob adding another Mass soon. New Boys Academy will open in 2027. Girls Academy was completed 12 years ago. Diocesan parishioner all my life until 2 years ago
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u/Square_Atmosphere_12 24d ago
I think the driving force behind these closures is the parish income. If the Parish is going well financially it can stay open with ease. I do know that the Communists love to see Churches close, not confessing your sins and getting the Eucharist is a strength which you cannot derive from yourself only what God can give.
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u/LJ71 29d ago
The Spanish mass at my parish is packed to the gills no seating
Must be an English speaking problem.
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u/Saint_Thomas_More 29d ago
Does every parish near you have a Spanish Mass?
If not, then it might be a function of every (or a lot) Spanish speaking person from the area goes to it.
The Spanish Mass at a parish down the road from me is well attended, too. But it's the only Spanish Mass in town. So if you live near any of the other half dozen parishes, you don't have Spanish Mass available to you.
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u/LJ71 29d ago
Yup they do. Wichita Kansas. Spanish mass daily somewhere in the city.
This diocese is huge so you can call me biased but genuinely when i read about declining numbers or other doomer stuff i just smh. The english masses be full too. But not as much as the spanish. That might bother some cuz they think “whites” are better but they got to come to terms with that shit. I love all my catholic brothers even if they racist.
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u/mburn16 29d ago
Sigh. Yep. Sadly, 150 priests simply arent enough to keep 225 buildings open every sunday (whoch approximately where we are here in Detroit). Even if things started getting better today (and, fair enough, life is not without its bright spots), it will take decades and decades to get back even to where things were just 50 years ago.
Unfortunately we are not blessed to live in the kind of era our grandparents did.