St. Wendelin and loss of Sunday mass
St. Wendelin and loss of Sunday mass
Please share if this helps you understand the diocesan changes.
Today, let’s look at St. Wendelin Parish and how dioceses often shut down churches.
When a priest removes the Sunday mass from a parish, it is almost guaranteeing it will be shut down and eventually torn down.
Why ?
As many priests will repeatedly state, “as long as you continue to donate, there is no reason to tear it down”. By removing Sunday mass, the priest has removed the very foundation of the donors.
People do not donate where their parents went to Sunday mass. They donate where THEY go to Sunday mass. Thus, in one generation, you virtually guarantee there is no donor base.
But even on the short term, removing the Sunday mass from a well-maintained local parish causes great sadness and dismay which leads to a loss of souls as many depart the church.
So what should a local priest do, especially with dictated mass constraints?
All options to keep a weekly Sunday mass should be pursued, including asking exemption from the Archbishop to allow another mass.
If not possible, at minimum, alternate smaller churches receiving Sunday mass.
This is one of the main ways the “death spiral” begins in a combined cluster. (This accelerates in a canonically changed parish.) Unnecessary elimination of parish support leads to significant financial trouble, causing more churches to close, leading to financial trouble. The Cincinnati Archdiocese does not understand our successful northern parishes or doesn’t care.
As for St. Wendelin, let us pray this parish founded by the Precious Blood finds a way back to having Sunday mass, even if it is alternated with St. Francis in Cranberry Prairie. St. Wendelin was founded in 1870. The question remains, out of the 150 years of existence, how often did they not have Sunday mass?
#stgaspar #bigdiocese
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For those willing the daily prayer to St. Gaspar for intervention on Beacons.
Prayer to St. Gaspar for the Church
Saint Gaspar, you loved the persecuted Church, and in the name of God you accepted disgrace and exile. We beg your intercession for the Church today; help us discern how we are to live and promote the message of the Gospel. United with you, may our hearts have compassion for the poor and abandoned. Increase our love for the Blood of Christ, so that we also may be prepared to risk our lives.
We thank God for your good works and example. Strengthen our union with you that we may not weaken, but grow stronger in our vocation to the honor of God and the salvation of souls. Amen.