We Are All in this Together
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.
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About the Author
I am a wife and mother of two grown sons. Although I am Cradle Catholic, I experienced a profound reversion to the True faith several years ago that motivated and inspired me to dive more deeply into an understanding of the Church and Her teachings, and why She has these teachings and where they come from. Surprisingly, for me, the more I read and discovered, the deeper my love of the Catholic Church and her teachings became. This certainly is a journey that doesn't end, and so as I uncover more amazing facts about our Faith and Church, I just can't help but want to share what I'm learning. So, I began writing for Catholic 365.
I have recently served for a year and a half as the Executive Director of a very active and busy Crisis Pregnancy Center on the West side of Cincinnati. God is so good and does answers prayers, even though He knows at times, we have no idea what we are asking for. The pro life cause is paramount to our times, I am so honored and humbled to have had the experience and opportunity to serve women and the unborn in this capacity! I am also very grateful to God, for allowing me to see for myself, that perhaps such a calling was not His long term plan for me. We go where God seeminly calls us, and for me, that was a return to corporate America. I currently work as a recruiter and sales onboarding specialist where I am helping a Franchising company open and support small businesses that serve seniors and the elderly, giving them opportunities to age in place and live thier final chapters with dignity. It is the other end of the pro life spectrum and such an amazing endeavor!
I love being able to share this great faith of ours and use this platform as a way to express my deep love and devotion to our Lord. We need each other, and this effort has truly become a wonderful way to connect with all of you- my brothers and sisters in Christ!
