What factors make a parish decide it needs to raise funds to build a larger church?

For example our parish has only 3 Masses per weekend--5pm Sat., 8:30am and 11am Sun. (they only added the 5pm within the last couple of years, and imho could use a 6pm Sun. to catch people who are coming back from weekend trips). Occasionally the Masses are crowded (usually because of Baptisms and all the extra people that usually are invited as guests), but why the push for a bigger church instead of simply having more Masses or Eucharistic services (or separate and/or private Baptism services/First Holy Communion Services as they used to)?

On Holy Days of Obligation, there are even fewer Masses, and those are so crowded, that once people drive up, they go home because not only is there often no parking, but even when there is parking and they stand outside, they can't hear because there are no loudspeakers (say turned down to a reasonable level) broadcasting the Mass outside.

Yes, I know there is a priest shortage, but I enjoy the Eucharistic services just as much, and we have had some really nice and thoughtful Rent-a-Priests (I say that with affection, as even some of them refer to themselves that way). I have heard that there is some prohibition (perhaps diosesan(sp?) in nature) against parish priests saying more than 3 Masses in a weekend to avoid "burnout". Is that true? Does it apply to Rent-a-Priests as well?

I can understand if the church is holding like 10 services a weekend that you might want to think about increasing the size of the building, but usually churches are empty when not not actually celebrating Mass. Also, to be honest, I don't think there is the congregation base in our parish to draw the money from, compared to a church with say 10 well-attended services per weekend. I mean, a company (for an example) would run two or three shifts before sinking a lot of money in a new plant.

Any insights on this process from the parish side? Thanks.

(I am familiar with the Countryside forum, so I did check the "No" box on the email :)

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), February 01, 2002

Answers

As my parish is currently in the process of raising funds for the building of a larger church, I can only suggest reasons based on our needs.

We are a very large parish. The largest, by population, in the city of Austin. We have a vigil Mass on Saturday, and a 7:30, 9:30, 11:30 and a 5:00 Mass on Sunday. We also have two Spanish Masses on Sunday, at 1:30 and 7:00. Now, with all these services, we only have three priests...and all Masses are full of parishioners. If we built a larger worship space, we could fit more people in at any given time. Having more room to accommodate more faithful would lessen the load on the priests.

I think the need to build bigger churches is a happy problem...it tends to imply that more people are attending Mass.

-- Melissa (holy_rhodes@earthlink.net), February 02, 2002.

One of my concerns is that then once there is the larger church, Masses get eliminated (I used to love 6:30am Sun Mass--parents of young children loved it too because the children slept through Mass, so no discipline problems).

People get used to going at certain times--some are 9:30am people, others are strictly Saturday night and so forth. I'm sure you have a lot of non-Spanish speakers attending your 7pm Sunday evening Mass because of when it is being celebrated. How are people dealing with the fact that some Masses are going to be dropped, or don't they know yet?

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), February 02, 2002.

I suspect that people attend later Masses because they can't fit into an earlier one.

Besides, we shouldn't be inclined to attend Mass only when it is "convenient" in our own schedules. We should remain mindful that we have the priviledge of spending time with our Lord...whenever it is offered. And what of the priests? I don't think it's a good idea for them to have to say Mass three and four times in one day risking burn-out, or the loss of their significance in the role of priest.

-- Melissa (holy_rhodes@earthlink.net), February 03, 2002.

I used to go backpacking over weekends a lot, so wasn't often near a church. I did talk to a priest about it, and his opinion was that you could pray for an hour in the woods, and that was just as good because you were praying and talking to God.

Another point perhaps is that people could stop going altogether, or if they're like me and go where and when they happen to be, then the church that has the best Mass schedule is the one that gets the contributions.

The last parish I belonged to (previous to this one) had just added a 6pm Sunday night youth-oriented Mass. Always packed with people coming back from the weekend, and the youth group met right after, but still early enough to give everyone time to get settled for the week. We got a new priest, and he stopped it. A lot of people felt it was because he wanted Sunday afternoon free, and whether that was the reason or not, a lot of people were unhappy. I always figured that priests took like Monday/Tuesday off, or some other days of the week.

To build a bigger church so you could have just one Mass a weekend, I don't think is realistic. There are better things to do with that money, and as I mentioned before, to me (not sure about others), a Eucharistic service performs the same function as Mass if a priest is unavailable--i.e. the church is open so one can pray either with the rest of the congregation, or just their rosary.

I do thank you for your answers.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), February 03, 2002.

Oh, don't mistake me...we would never be able to reduce worship to simply one Mass! We are far too large a parish to even toy with the notion! We anticipate scaling back from seven weekend Masses to four, or perhaps five.

Further to this hope, we could potentially accomodate the "fair weather Catholic" who only worships on Ash Wednesday, Easter Vigil, and Midnight on Christmas. On these occasions, people spill out into the narthex and even outside onto the church steps.

-- Melissa (holy_rhodes@earthlink.net), February 04, 2002.

We call them the "Easter Lily and Poinsettia Catholics!"

Speaking of Ash Wednesday, we happened to be in New York City about 5 years ago, and as was usual with what we had been told by our regular diocese, we went to Mass (as in no Mass, no Ashes) in St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Imagine our surprise when all throughout Mass there was stationed along one side aisle one priest (or probably a deacon) JUST dispensing ashes, one person right after another, people were just coming in to get ashes and leave. No joke. Special dispensation by the diocese or something? You certainly don't see that everywhere.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), February 04, 2002.

We call them the "Easter Lily and Poinsettia Catholics!"

Bloody clever postmarks!

Yeah, Ash Wednesday tends to unearth some surprises. Just this past year, one woman approached the priest to receive her ashes, all the while engaged in conversation on her cell phone. Another woman came late, walked up the aisle as we were receiving communion, and when the priest offered communion to her, she refused. She then said she was there for ashes, and thought that was what she was approaching the altar for!

-- Melissa (holy_rhodes@earthlink.net), February 04, 2002.

Using a cell phone? That's awful, but right up there with parents who think it is okay to feed toddlers during Mass with cheerios and other finger foods, some sticky...not to mention those who think collection and communion are intermission breaks to go to the restroom...or seeing a man put money in the collection and take change out. When I was younger, I didn't even know churches had restrooms.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), February 04, 2002.