www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Serious Question- Easter Churches growing?

Hello everyone,

I am a Western Catholic by birth, but I greatly respect and have attended many Byzantine (Ruthenian) liturgies and I've noticed around Pittsburgh, PA that it seems like there's a been a decline in numbers over the years. Is anyone else noticing this too? Cleveland?

I'm curious to know where the light of the East is spreading at?

There's a decline in population and Mass / Liturgy attendance across the entire country. My Byzantine parish is usually full every Sunday, but I'd say 20% of the population is revolving door visitors who stay anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, then move on. The local TLM parish is in the same boat. I read their bulletin every week and they publish attendance numbers, but they've stagnated since covid.

The thing with the more ancient liturgies is that they're shiny and new for a lot of people at first, and they dive into the traditionals and liturgical calendar with a lot of zeal, but eventually the lustre wears off, the enthusiasm wanes, they get bored and go back to their normal, jurisdictional novus ordo parish. Because they realize as long as they have to go to a boring liturgy every Sunday, it's easier to go to the one that's 5 minutes away and lasts 45 minutes, rather than drive an hour to the ones that last twice as long.

The overall trajectory of the Church in the West just doesn't look very promising, whether it's novus ordo TLM, or Byzantine. The fact is that the older populations who not only go to church but provide the majority of donations and funding are dying off, and the younger generations not only aren't going, but they either don't donate or don't have enough to donate. It's just the reality of the situation.

Holy Orthodoxy seems to be growing steadily in the United States. There's some silver lining there. The two Orthodox parishes I've checked out have had explosive growth in the last 1-2 years.

Christ is in our midst!!

EasternLight:

Welcome to the forum. We hope your time with us is spiritually beneficial. The decline in the Ruthenian Catholic Church seems to be tied to the "revised Divine Liturgy" that was the topic of much discussion on this board years ago.

Bob
Moderator

I've seen the opposite where I live. One of the four Orthodox parishes nearby closed within the last decade. A Greek, a Serbian and an OCA parish remain. The first two are the stereotypical ethnic enclaves that are dwindling in population as the younger members of the core ethnic base don't stick around while the older members pass on. The OCA parish seems to be doing ok, not growing or shrinking.

Orthodox parishes are usually pretty small, so "explosive growth" is relative.

Wasn't that almost 20 years ago now? The entire Catholic Church began near exponential decline beginning in the early 2000s with the revelation of the abuse scandals parallel with the rise of the internet. New members joining Byzantine Catholic parishes today don't even know about the revised DL. A lot of it was probably due to natural attrition as the old members died off.