Painful Question: Why do so many Catholic parishes die?

[trotsky]

https://www.stardem.com/life/painful-question-why-do-so-many-catholic-parishes-die/article_c8f90975-927a-5d1b-916f-b9ecbad914c2.html

The headlines keep appearing in Catholic newspapers before the news migrates into the real-estate coverage in mainstream media.

The bottom line is the bottom line. Catholic shepherds decide that they have to pull the plug and close parishes in which declining and aging flocks of believers have struggled to pay their bills. These aging sanctuaries are often located on valuable pieces of urban real estate.

Some parishes vanish. Others are merged into one facility to make efficient use of space, as well as the crowded schedules of a steadily declining number of priests.

...What changed? Asking that question — especially in an era of scandal and pain — leads to doctrinal questions that are just as troubling as the hellish puzzles linked to decades of reports about sexual abuse among Catholic clergy.

[crazytown]

1. Living alone as a celebate priesthood in a small town

leaves much to be desired.

[Cartoonist]

2. What's painful about it?

Every time another church closes, it's a celebration of reason.

[exboyfil]

3. And the property returns to the real estate tax base

Works for me.

[Merlot]

9. There are 5 churches on one main street near me.

They suck up a large portion of streetfront property without contributing to the community. The city is considering a half-cent tax because of a shortage in the budget. And this is a city with very high property values.

[Freethinker65]

4. People move, neighborhoods change.

Older churches with schools have declining enrollments and are too big to maintain. Parishes sell off buildings and land and combine parishes. Sometimes other denominations buy the space, but there are often areas that had a massive church every couple of blocks. The church is not the only place people congregate now. People are more mobile and have more choices than when these churches and church complexes were planned and built.

Where I grew up, the local parish closed down the elementary school, then the high school, and finally the church within a span of about 30 years. The neighborhood aged and changed and the families that moved in sent their kids to our just fine public schools.

I never went to the parochial school and knew few that did. I stopped attending mass after my first communion because I was a non-believer. Of my adult ultra Catholic raised nieces and nephews, less than half attend church regularly.

[MineralMan]

5. Irrelevancy? Scandal? Boredom?

Who can say. One day, someone just stops going to Mass. Another day, someone else forgets. Then, a few more stop coming because there are only a few there. Then, the door gets locked and a sign goes up.

So it goes...

[Wellstone ruled]

12. As people deal with their

personal self issues in something different that using a Religious Crutch,the numbers of non Church Goers increase.

Modern Social Media is the Old World's Religious Crutch's demise.

Reality that feeding the Sky Fairy just does not cut it any more.

[bitterross]

6. It's only painful for the church coffers

It's a great day when a tool of white males, used to oppress others closes!

[Eyeball_Kid]

7. In Europe, disinterest in organized religion has already grown in many parts.

It's rather like "throwing good money after bad." Financial support is slowly drying up as there is less emotional dependence on organized religion for economic security and social cohesion. When visiting European countries, it's surprising to see large churches boarded up or turned into tourist attractions. The sexual assault epidemic, exposed now as an apparently necessary feature of religious practice among the clergy that reaches into the past decades and centuries, pours gasoline on the fire.

[Merlot]

11. A friend of mine lived in an appartment in a converted old church

It was very cool. Each appartment was two stories high, taking advantage of the high roof and glass windoes. Beautiful old building finally providing some actual value to the town.

[RandySF]

8. White flight from central city and members dying off

[MaryMagdaline]

10. Established religions are dying out. We are just going the way that Europe went after WWII

Catholics left the cities, quit reproducing like bunnies (*my family is a prime example ... very few grandchildren produced from 8 children), families discovered public schools in the suburbs, and the ties with the church gradually dropped. Child sexual abuse scandal destroyed what was left.