A couple months ago my Archbishop listed
some sobering statistics in the archdiocesan newspaper. He compared the current
activity here in the Hartford Archdiocese to what was happening back in 1967. Here
are the stark facts: there are 68-percent fewer priests now than there were in
1967; 82-percent fewer seminarians; 76-percent fewer students in Catholic
schools; 84-percent fewer church marriages; and finally, 65-percent fewer
people attending Sunday Mass nowadays compared to approximately five decades
ago. In our modest-sized Archdiocese, that percentage translates into a
jaw-dropping quarter-million people who are NOT at Mass anymore on any given weekend.
Wow, those figures are indeed
sobering. About a week after this information was published, my own parish held
an emergency finance meeting open to all parishioners. The basic topic of the
meeting was this: our parish has been identified as “unsustainable,” which
means at our current pace we will be bankrupt in a couple years. The facts are
undeniable: Mass attendance has dropped steadily during each of the past five
years, and not surprisingly, donations to the parish have dropped each year,
too. We are in a bad way, and I’m quite sure countless other parishes and
dioceses across the United States face similar situations.
If the Church were a corporation or
other secular institution, these numbers might indicate that it is on the verge
of extinction. (And don’t doubt for a minute that many people in our godless
culture—especially those in the news media, entertainment industry, and academia—would
be thrilled if the Catholic Church ceased to exist. We have a lot of powerful
enemies nowadays.)
However, as Catholics, when we learn
about these dire statistics, there is only one proper response: we must
rejoice!
Wait. What? Did you just say rejoice?
Helloooo! Anybody home?! How can you say that, Bill? The Church is about to
collapse, and you say we should rejoice? Did you start drinking again?
Calm down, I did not start drinking
again. Let me explain. First, I’m not rejoicing because I am secretly an
atheist social engineer who thinks the Church is standing in the way of my
Marxist utopian plans to transform the culture. No, I am rejoicing because the
Catholic Church is the only institution in the history of the world that has
been given a divine guarantee of success.
In Matthew’s gospel, chapter 16, Jesus
instituted the Church. He named Peter the “Rock” upon which the Church would be
built. Then Jesus said this about the Church: “The gates of Hell shall not
prevail against it.” This is a clear promise from Our Lord that the Church will
survive, no matter what.
It is important not to lose sight of
the “big picture.” The Catholic Church is not just a Connecticut organization,
and it has not existed for only the last 50 years. The Church is a worldwide
organization and it has existed for 2,000 years. Over the centuries the Church
has faced many dire situations, some far more frightening than what we see in
our local communities today. The Church may be struggling right now in parts of
the U.S. (Europe is worse, by the way), but the Church is growing like crazy in
other regions of the world.
Even though we seem to see nothing but
problems all around us, we can be confident the last chapter of the story has
already been written by God. And in that final chapter, the good guys win!
God’s Church will be victorious.
Keeping this fact in mind helps us to
avoid getting discouraged as we engage in the daily struggle to keep the faith
and stand up for the truth in a secular and cynical society. Keeping this fact
in mind helps us to be optimistic, even when Mass attendance and parish
finances are gloomy.
God’s Church will be victorious.
Christ gave us that sure promise. So the only proper response is to rejoice!
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