So, today was the Fall Festival at my local church. It's an annual fundraising event held each year at the end of August/beginning of September. I didn't stick around for it, and from what I could see, there wasn't much to stick around for. There were the Chicken and Corn Dinner, a raffle, and a bake sale. That's it. They dropped the kids' games and weren't having bingo. The Mexican food tent was also absent, along with the used book sale. The whole thing came across as...kind of a let-down.
Was there a lack of time or of volunteers? Were those dropped events costing more money than they were bringing in? Or was it simply decided that "we just won't be doing these things this year"? What led to this? I'm not angry or upset, I'm just confused...and a little disappointed.
Church attendance is down. This is something I've noticed, especially after it was pointed out. Father Paul has been with our church for almost two years now. Over the last year or so, attendance at the masses has gone down. Noticeably. Lots of pews are fully empty, and there are large gaps left visible in the crowd. Something I've been looking at these last few weeks is when we get back to the car. It used to be 11:10. Now it's more in the 11:02 - 11:04 range. My guess for this is that because there are fewer people attending, we get through stuff like Communion (which are slowed down by large crowds) faster.
This is my personal opinion, and it is at least somewhat biased, but I blame the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. It's not exactly popular - as soon as Fr. Paul's back is turned, there's always a small crowd of people getting up to leave. His obsession with that prayer (he has no problem making mass run long by doing the Chaplet, and always seems at least semi-excited to be doing it) has probably driven some of the attendants away (it certainly makes me want to leave and not come back!).
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