When bringing the faithful together is wrong
Let’s assume for a minute that you have a very successful store, where there is never a shortage of clients, but you decide to close the store because you couldn’t find someone to run the cash register. Or how about a mass transit system, where people are lined up at the stops but you decide to cancel the “run” because there’s a shortage of drivers. Consider the musical group that decides to give up public concerts because the drummer is absent. In any of these models, the correct solution is to find the missing parties needed to complete your equation.
Then what in the name of all that is good and holy does the diocese of Charlottetown have in mind with it’s announcement this weekend. A plan to physically join together some of the most successful parishes in the country, where the pews are used, and close the churches that are the last evidence of historical communities. I don’t get it.
For those who believe the faithful will travel long distances out of faith, might I point out the historical reason for the founding of these parishes. The faithful wanted to worship without having to be on the roads in a country that offers month upon month of hellish travel conditions. We might have better vehicles than a century ago, but human nature has not changed. Not one iota.
I’ve seen the “collection numbers” for some of the churches facing closure, and they are better served than most parishes in large cities. I realize there is a critical lack of priests, but to tell the faithful to “suck it up” is not the answer. At one time, the church brought priests in from afar. It might be time to renew the practice. If numbers are low worldwide, then it’s time to rethink the policies that are keeping candidates away.
The problem isn’t limited to the Island, I know, but in this case I have an emotional interest. A call for dialogue is good, but this sounds like a plan that has already received its imprimateur. This is not what is meant by bringing the faithful together. It is wrong.
