My wife and I made the 500 mile drive to attend our oldest
granddaughter’s First Communion the last weekend of April. She was among 123
second graders in their little suits and white dresses, receiving Our Lord,
Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity for the first time. The class was so large, they had to divide
them in half with one Mass in the late morning and the other in the early
afternoon. Otherwise, the church could
not hold all the parents, friends and relatives who wished to attend. This is in a church that holds almost a
thousand people, and was nearly full for each Mass.
We had one entire pew reserved for our group which included
siblings, aunts and uncles, godparents, their children, us grandparents, and
Mom. Dad was the organist and choir
director for both Masses. Some of the
children did the readings and petitions.
They were obviously well-rehearsed as all spoke clearly with
sufficient volume to be heard throughout the church.
The following week, we were back home where our parish
traditionally holds First Communion the first Sunday in May. To prepare the music, I contacted the CCD
instructor to see how many would be receiving their First Communion here. To my chagrin, she said none. I believe this is the
first year in the nearly 140 years of our parish, that we had no one receiving
First Holy Communion. Our numbers have
shrunk so drastically that our parish appears to be on life support. I have addressed the reasons for this in
previous posts. Our town has no industry
to keep young people of child-bearing age here.
We have lost parishioners to other nearby parishes where they feel more
comfortable. And families just aren’t
having as many children as they did years ago.
Combine this with Catholics who no longer attend Mass for a variety of
excuses, and you have many empty pews.
Our wonderful bishop of the past five years has recently been
transferred to another diocese. With the
shortage of priests and the uncertainty of what our next bishop will decide, we
may not have a resident priest here much longer. In fact, I sometimes wonder if we will have a
new bishop. Once upon a time, we were
part of a neighboring diocese. Our
diocese was created some 60 years ago when this area had a thriving commerce
with railroads, steel mills, and productive farmland. The farmland remains, but the family farms
are gone. Many railroads have been
abandoned, and much of steel is imported.
Times have changed and rural areas have suffered.
Are we doomed? I hope
not. Oh, the Church will go on, if not
in our home parish, somewhere else. All
we can do is look to the Holy Spirit for direction and guidance. It’s all a part of God’s plan. Thy will be done.
