S-T: Parishioners fighting to save historic New Bedford church.

Regular readers may have noticed that I occasionally post links and commentary on the state of the Roman Catholic Church in my home region of Southeastern Massachusetts and in New England more generally. As a new entry in this category, here is a story from today's edition of the New Bedford Standard-Times on the efforts of a historic New Bedford parish to stay open in spite of financial difficulties and dwindling attendance:

The oldest Portuguese Roman Catholic parish in North America will be saved from extinction only if more people attend Mass on Sundays, and if they can raise enough money to replace the church's tattered roof.

Parishioners of St. John the Baptist Church on County Street have organized re-evangelization and capital campaign teams to meet benchmarks set by Bishop George W. Coleman, who will decide sometime next year if the historic church will stay open.

"It would be crushing to see that church close," said Timothy J. Lopes, a St. John's parishioner who is helping to organize the capital campaign to raise about $750,000 to replace the church roof.

Fred Langevis, a member of the evangelist committee, is trying to reinvigorate his congregation's spiritual life by showcasing the parish's 26 active ministries, and by inviting worshipers to attend small-group discussions on Catholic spirituality.

"I feel very strongly that we shouldn't let our tradition fade away because of what I see as misunderstandings of the viability of the parish," he said.

Years of declining Mass attendance combined with needed structural repairs that went neglected and ill-managed finances resulted in St. John the Baptist, which was established in 1871 to minister to Portuguese immigrants, to reach the brink of foreclosure.

. . .

Langevis' main charge is to attract more registered parishioners and increase Mass attendance, which slipped to an average of 467 total worshipers for all four weekend Masses last year — a decline from about 705 in 2000.

Langevis, 60, who married his wife 40 years ago at St. John's, in June helped organize a ministry fair, which was well-received and resulted in 56 people signing up for 19 ministries. Also, 13 people joined the parish.

"When you have 26 active ministries, that's a viable parish from a spiritual standpoint," said Langevis, whose team is also organizing a program called Awakening Faith, which invites parishioners to meet in small discussion groups for six weeks.

"We talk about different topics of spirituality. We try to get them to open up about the challenges they face and how we can get the church to be more welcoming to them," Langevis said.

Parishioners say they have seen more people attending Mass on Sundays.

"We are seeing new and younger faces in the church," Lopes said.

However, the main factor to turning St. John's around will be money, parishioners admit.

To read the rest of the article, click here. My sympathy is with the parishioners at St. John's as they fight to revitalize their parish and to improve its fiscal health, and I wish them well in their efforts. That being said, I find it somewhat regrettable that the Standard-Times article places greater emphasis on parish finances than it does on the task of re-evangelization. In the short term, it seems to be true that money will be the "main factor" in determining whether or not the church stays open; the bill for capital improvements to the church will ultimately reach $1.7 million, so parish fundraisers have their work cut out for them. Even so, I wonder where the parish will find itself in a few years if it manages to raise enough funds to stave off closing but fails to replenish its empty pews.

In principle, I believe that there is a cultural as well as a spiritual value in keeping old churches open. This value ought to be particularly apparent in the case of a church like St. John's, the oldest Portuguese national parish in North America. To rebut an anticipated objection, I should make it clear that I do not subscribe to the view that 'ethnic' Catholic parishes in the United States were intended merely as a stopgap to be phased out as their parishioners assimilated into a culturally uniform 'American' Church. On the contrary, I believe that ethnic parishes should be allowed to survive as a bulwark against the myopia of the 'melting pot' and as a reminder that the Gospel has taken root in distinctive ways in particular cultures. Given the practical challenges that many ethnic parishes face, their special identity and continuing importance must be defended in the strongest possible terms if they are to survive.

Though fundraising is important for financially-troubled parishes, I would humbly suggest that attracting and retaining new and younger members is the greatest challenge facing faith communities like St. John's. The parish leaders quoted by the Standard-Times seem to be serious about reinvigorating the spiritual life of the community, though the article gives the impression that their efforts are primarily focused on getting current parishioners to become more active in parish activities. As commendable as these efforts are, it is no less important for parishes like St. John's to welcome newcomers who may not have a historic connection to the church.

For various reasons, long-established ethnic parishes can have a hard time refilling empty pews when their traditional membership base begins to decline or disperse. Basically stable parish communities with a strong ethnic identity often don't know quite what to do with newcomers, who in turn can be put off by the appearance of exclusivity and what can sometimes seem like a frosty or reluctant welcome. As a native of the area, I can also say that parishes in Southeastern Massachusetts aren't used to thinking much about these issues - until fairly recently, they never really had to. Now that these issues can no longer be avoided, my earnest hope and fervent prayer is that St. John's and similar parishes are able to meet the urgent challenges that confront them. AMDG.