by LISA CAPOBIANCO STAFF WRITERI remember the days when the pews in my church would fill in a matter of seconds with few, if any parking lots available. Sunday mornings were full enough for the 10:30 mass. But on Saturday afternoons, I recall my parents warning me to be ready by 3:15 in order to get a seat in time for the 4 p.m. mass, which always brought a crowd of parishioners. This may have been the case for as long as I could remember, but today the trend has changed faster than I can say “Amen.” Only recently did I notice how dramatically attendance has changed at church when my parish priest discussed the importance of our participation in a survey that will ultimately change the structure of Catholic churches in our state and perhaps in the nation. “Bishops don’t close parishes—people close them,” he told us one Sunday morning. Although I cannot estimate how many people attend the 10:30 mass on Sundays, it seems like there is only a handful of parishioners. Unless its Christmas, finding a seat doesn’t seem to be a problem one bit, but rather filling one is the challenge my church in Waterbury […]
by LISA CAPOBIANCO STAFF WRITERI remember the days when the pews in my church would fill in a matter of seconds with few, if any parking lots available. Sunday mornings were full enough for the 10:30 mass. But on Saturday afternoons, I recall my parents warning me to be ready by 3:15 in order to get a seat in time for the 4 p.m. mass, which always brought a crowd of parishioners. This may have been the case for as long as I could remember, but today the trend has changed faster than I can say “Amen.” Only recently did I notice how dramatically attendance has changed at church when my parish priest discussed the importance of our participation in a survey that will ultimately change the structure of Catholic churches in our state and perhaps in the nation. “Bishops don’t close parishes—people close them,” he told us one Sunday morning. Although I cannot estimate how many people attend the 10:30 mass on Sundays, it seems like there is only a handful of parishioners. Unless its Christmas, finding a seat doesn’t seem to be a problem one bit, but rather filling one is the challenge my church in Waterbury […]