Earlier this week we reported that Church of the Good Shepherd lost 185 attendees the week they dropped from three to two Masses as part of the new Rush-Henrietta cluster Mass schedule. We now have data for St. Joseph in Rush, one of the other two cluster parishes.
Below is a comparison of attendance figures for St. Joseph before and after reducing from three to two weekend Masses.
Before Mass reduction:
After Mass reduction:
It can be seen that attendance fell from 432 to 344 in the first week of the new Mass schedule. That marks a decline of 88 attendees. Add this with Good Shepherd’s loss, and the Rush-Henrietta community may have lost at least 273 Mass attendees in a single week.
So, unless Guardian Angels was able to maintain their previous Mass totals, as well as bring in an extra 273 people (their attendance figures are not published), the Rush-Henrietta clustering arrangement appears to have had quite a rocky first week. These declines will probably continue long-term, if not grow worse. I’m sure others victims of DoR clustering could attest to that.
Tags: Bishop Clark, Church Closings
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Yes, but look at the collection figures, over $600 in the regular collection and over a thousand dollars in the buildings and grounds collection. 88 people may not be there, but were they regular and committed parishioners? I think you really can't determine the affect of this until at least the fall. I'm not saying that people aren't leaving, but it's going to take time for that to be known.
Anon. 12:49,
Many parishioners these days make their monthly contributions by electronic funds transfer and many parishes offer two dates, about 15 days apart, during the month for that transfer to take place.
If a parish doesn't report EFT amounts separately from weekend collections – and many don't – then the amount of collections it reports is going to spike twice a month.
That's what happens at my parish and it may also be what's happening here.