Issue 18: A full Church

Praying for that day once again!

Feb 18, 2023

“Your church is full of people!”

It is a phrase that comes up all the time when I’m doing a Project display. Enough to the point that I often use that as a spring board to talk about the prayer of my work. How that having my Project full of people is not so much a reflectio nof the past. It is more like a prayer for the future of our parish communities.

This prayer comes from my own life in the church. Growing up the church is the foundation of our family. We spent many years living in the original parish rectory of St. Helen’s. (Now called Christ The Good Shepherd). A short walk to the parish for Mass and other activities. No real excuse as to why we couldn’t go. Back then we had two priests serving at the parish and four Masses. One on Sat and three on Sunday. I was also one of the servers so it varied as to which Mass I ended up at. During my early years the parish was always full of people. The school was busy and the time was a good one. The Mass was always full of people. More so during the later times. People had a focus for the Mass and it was a reminder of how important following Christ was.

As time has moved on the world started to change. God was no longer a priority. Families stopped coming to Mass. Children no longer took part in things going on. Year by year I’ve seen the numbers dwindle to where they are at present. The number of youth taking and active role in parish life trickled to a slow crawl. It has been deeply heart breaking to watch this unfold. We can argue the reasons for this till the sun no longer burns. It won’t change the cold reality that many parishes are struggling with attendance and the numbers keep getting worse. Along with vocations almost non existent.

Somewhere along the way we lost our trust in God. Strayed far off the path to the point that He is no longer a priority for many of us who say that we follow Him. The reasons for this are too many to list. Along with the fact that their are no simple answers to change this current direction we are traveling in. For me at least I will focus on my work. Adding in as many people as the Project will hold. A reminder of the past when the parishes were full. A prayer that in my lifetime I would see people make the Mass (and by extension God) a priority.

Creatively Christian Newsletter/Podcast

Back in Oct of 2021 I had a chance to be a guest on the Creatively Christian Podcast. Talking about many aspects of my work with the Project. Reason why I am bringing it up is that they just recently joined Substack! So if you get a chance check them out.

Building Hope, One Brick At a Time (Podcast interview)

Creatively Christian Substack!

Looking for Display locations!

That time of year again! Season 24 is within a week or two of being ready to take on the road! However I need some help! If you know of a parish that might be interested in having me and can help provide the resources (like transportation) to make it happen send them my way! They can reach out to me at kc8wzm@gmail.com

I will go where God sends me. Now I just need to find out where.