"Where have they all gone"? A Satire on Empty Pews

“Where have they all gone”?

A Satire on Empty Pews

 This is not the first comment on why the populace of the Church has diminished, and it will not be the last.  Recently, I submitted an article titled “Have the sins of some drawn you away from the Sacraments?  This is not a repeat of that reflection, but a commentary on the pain that is felt and reflected daily in the attendance, or lack of, realized by the reduction in the pews and collection baskets. 

Go into any old neighborhood that began when immigrants from Lithuania, Germany, Italy, Poland, and so many more settled in this land of opportunity and freedom.  Walk down the many streets of their neighborhoods and view the ethnicity of still standing edifices to God, their churches.  The language of each differed from their neighbors, but all spoke one voice - praising God for the new found freedom to pray and respect what was here; Praise and Honor to God who led them here.

God became the number one entity in each one’s heart and found that nothing could be so terrible that one or more disappointments would lead them away from their sacred place of worship, their Roman Catholic Church.

Then, why in this time of disruption within the Church have so many decided their church is no longer the sacred place where God resides in each tabernacle of every Catholic Church and doesn’t have meaning for them?  The Sacraments are the same, the Apostolic Succession remains as valid now as it did when Jesus appointed Peter and the other Apostles to lead His Church, when He said, “the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it”.  The Priesthood of Jesus Christ is as important today as it was when these immigrants arrived on the shores of America.

If Jesus would have told his followers that believing in him would guarantee them a perfect life without scandal, hardships, disappointments in their leaders, and everything with meaning would be just as they expected, most would’ve jumped on the bandwagon.  But he did not promise them a utopia or rose garden.  Every one of the Apostles except John walked the road to Martyrdom.  Some were crucified and some beheaded.  They all shed blood and walked the Via Dolorosa in one way or another.  If this is what Jesus foretold then not just physical martyrdom is the way, but crosses, especially through discouraging actions of those we put our trust in also becomes a struggle of faith.

Does anyone think that we, who are in Holy Orders, have turned our heads as if nothing happened in the recent scandal of pedophilia within the Church?  Let me say that when each of us had the bishop’s hands placed upon us, we all became one; a common brotherhood, a common sharing in the life of Christ.  Each of us, deacons, priests, and bishops, felt this crisis more than the rest of the Church.  Many of us cried, most of us shuddered at the news, and all of us felt a sword piercing our hearts as one of our own slipped away in shame.  A brotherhood that became severed and left an emptiness that we must try to heal.  The healing is not easy when we become the receiving end of scrutiny and whispering; “he is one of them”.  

We are strong, and will prevail in spite of the adversity perpetrated by some who promised to follow Christ, and failed.  Our task is to bridge the abyss that has seemingly opened and with hands across the chasm are going to bring the two back together.  But we need you, the hurting populace to trust us, and know that God is waiting for your return.  My prayers are; “please come back even if you are hurting”.  We love you and wait with open arms.

Ralph B. Hathaway, July 2019