Thank you, Dan! I very inspiring presentation. You put forward the most important questions, especially for our times, and I hope those of us who attended this conference (via RU-vid) will follow up. A good New Year's resolution in action!
This was certainly an eye opener and the timing for this is perfect as vaccines are being provided and hopefully some members who are only attending church online will feel safe and comfortable to attend in person but no matter what others do, I will take responsibility for my part in attending church in person and engaging someone to attend with me.
So many reasons why they dont come back...how about a personal invitstion. In my last parish in TN. Volunteers called each and every registered parishioner, on behalf of the pastor, to make sure they were ok. And to ask what they could do to help them stay close to God. Churches in the south are full. Doing something right. If members are only wanted to keep checkbooks open and mouths shut thats why they leave. Priests are representing Christ. He and the Apostles persued the lost. It wasnt a part time job. Mass should be available everyday
Sadly, I do think some will not come back. My parish has about 55% back. I think we may get 15% more back, but that's it. The wierd thing is the collection is only about 15% down. I think the Catholic Church has fallen prey to the trend of mainline protestant denominations. 40 years ago they watered down the gospel, watered down sin and the result was devastating. I fear as Catholics our bishops will just keep closing and merging to make 'viable' parishes, which means big. A strength of protestant churches is small often under 100 member churches. A financially stable small parish (100 or so) could be a wonderful experience as we proceed forward. A small committed parish moving forward to grow, it may take 100 years.
