Party of God or Satan?
The Original Mega Church – Catholicism
Photo By: Flickr/Edgar Jiménez
I see a lot of hype these days about mega churches. You know, those huge Protestant churches that congregate 2000 or more attendees for their weekly services. Data suggests that the US has approximately 50 churches that exceed 10,000 weekly in attendance and there is at least one church with 45,000 average weekly attendance numbers.
The Catholic Church in this country on the other hand, has an average of 3000 parishes nationally, with an average weekly attendance of 2000; that totals an average of 6,000,000 individual worshippers. The Catholic Church is not considered a part of this movement. Interesting, since we Catholics seem to be leaving everyone else behind in the dust. Even more incredibly, these are just the national numbers for The Catholic Church, universally, we average 1.214 billion members. This Universal Church has followers in every nation and on every continent of the world. I would conclude that the Catholic Church is the true and original Mega Church.
I find it amazing that we as a Catholic family and Body of Christ come together in such numbers. I find it miraculous that these celebrations include the same liturgy daily and weekly; including the same Eucharistic sacrament, Scripture readings, and prayers. It is indicative that our one true faith has stood the test of time, distance, language, ethnicity, race, color, socioeconomic status, age and culture. We have survived the trends, fads, the cultural shifts and revolutions; the scandals, divisions, wars, and revolts; and continue to thrive. Truly, as Jesus promised, He is with us, He has built His Church on the rock of Peter and his apostolic succession and the Devil has not and will not prevail against it. As we celebrate His Ascension, we can be assured in the knowledge that He is with us until the end of time, and He continues to oversee and guide his Mega Church.
About the Author
I am a 57 year old, wife and mother of two grown sons. I am Cradle Catholic and experienced a reversion to the faith several year ago that moved me to dive more deeply into an understanding of the church and it’s doctrines and dogmas. The more I read, and discover, the deeper my love of the Catholic Church and her teachings becomes.
I become the Executive Director of a very active and busy Crisis Pregnancy Center on the West side of Cincinnati in October 2021. God is so good and answers prayers even though He knows at times, we have no idea what we are asking for. I left this job a few days ago, after having my heart broken and idea of working for a Catholic institution disallusioned. I am so honored and humbled to have had the experience to serve women and the unborn in this capacity! I am also very grateful for God, allowing me to see for myself, that perhaps such a calling was not His long term plan for me. Perhapos returning to Catholic 365 is more to his liking and fits more into his plan for me. I hopefully can once again be more active with content to this wonderful website.
I live in Cincinnati, Ohio where I attended the same parochial grade school and public high school that my two boys attend. I sang in the choir for 35 years and have also been a cantor. I recently left singing in church because i found it to be a grave distraction to the awesome significance of the Liturgy. I haven't looked back, and love the Mass now more than ever! I have been a past member of the Education Commission and have devoted many hours to the well being of St. Ann Church and School (now Our Lady of Grace).
I look forwad to being back and submitting more articles and content. I love being able to share my faith and use this platform as a way to express my deep love and devotion to our Lord. We need each other, and what a wonderful way to connect with others!
