Toby visiting the new statue and enjoying the marigolds.

At mass this weekend, the topic of parish closings came up.  It seems that with all of the scandal in the Catholic church, attendance is dangerously low (as is financial support), and there is a very real chance that we could lose our church.  For some reason I had never considered this as a possibility.

Our church isn’t one of the oldest, but it has been around for 50 years.  A lot of work has been done with building maintenance, improvements to the grounds and even adding a statue of the patron saint.  Not only is it a big part of the community, but it is where dog people in the area meet to talk and exercise their pups.  My boys grew up there and are known by everyone.

Since I have MCS, being in buildings with a lot of people wearing perfume and having cigarette smoke on their clothes is more than I can bear, so I haven’t attended mass in a good while.  I still participate in as many other aspects of the community as I can, however.

I didn’t realize until today just how much I would miss it if our church weren’t here.  I know a lot of other people are going through the same thing.  October is the month when then count attendance in order to determine which churches are closed and which kept open.  I am hoping to struggle through as many services as I can to do my part to keep this one open.  I hope that most churches are able to weather this storm and continue to provide good things for their communities for years to come.

Good luck with yours!

**************************************************************************

Need to distract yourself from being sad over things that are not in your control?  Consider reading Poopiter! It is a fun little distraction with plenty of stories about these naughty pups.