Intro Music: [00:00:00] Welcome to the EquipCast for the Archdiocese of Omaha. Designed to help leaders to transform their cultures, to embody the pastoral vision, to be one church, encountering Jesus, equipping disciples, and living mercy. 

Jim: Hey everybody, welcome to the EquipCast Coach's Corner, where we break down important topics to equip you and your team for mission, in your family, in your church, and in your ministry.

My name is Jim Jansen, and today I'm going to talk about closing churches. Well, my heart goes out. I know this is personal to so many people who are listening. You see, throughout many parts of the United States, inner cities and rural communities especially, churches are closing as part of the pastoral planning process.

See, we got here because of a perfect storm. Uh, first, the number of priests, uh, which was at an historic high in the 70s and 80s, is now settling back down to typical doubles. And we [00:01:00] don't have the number of priests that we used to, to staff the institutions that we now have. Uh, secondly, populations are shifting.

People are moving from the rural area to cities. People in the cities are moving out to the suburbs. And unfortunately, our buildings don't move with them. Third, there's an enormous disengagement from the faith among all generations. From baby boomers to millennials to iGens, all generations are rapidly disaffiliating from the faith.

It's a little bit more dramatic for the young, but all generations seem to be disengaging from practice of the faith. And now we find ourselves in a place where we're having to make really difficult decisions about pastoral planning and staffing and closing churches. I really think of my friends in St.

Louis and Pittsburgh and all across the Midwest that are experiencing this in dramatic fashion. Here in the Archdiocese of Omaha, most of our churches are not technically closing. Uh, they're just stopping saying Sunday Mass. Honestly, the grief is [00:02:00] the same. And as I've reflected on this, I realized this isn't the first time where God's people lost a worship site.

You see, several times in the Old Testament, the temple where God's people would worship was destroyed. And in Luke chapter 21, Jesus predicts again that the temple is going to be destroyed. And that matters not just for Jews, but for the early Christians who worshiped at the temple as well. So, I want to go through a little bit of what Jesus says in Luke chapter 21, noticing that there's some common patterns and some big differences as well that I think might be instructive for us as we try and process what's happening to us.

First is, as the conversation opens, you can see that Jesus disciples are preoccupied with how grand and beautiful and big and seemingly flourishing the temple is. And without missing a beat, Jesus says, this place is going to be closed in a generation. And more than closed, it's going to be destroyed.

There's not going to be one stone left on another. [00:03:00] Well, shocked, his disciples say, Uh, Lord, what's, what's, what's going to be the sign for this? How will we know? And Jesus talks about famines and wars and signs in heaven and earthquakes. You see, our Heavenly Father is willing to do anything to get his children's attention.

And that's where I noticed the first connection to our situation. You see, we've had signs too. For us, the signs have been there for decades. For almost a generation, we've seen decreasing mass attendance and a growing secularization in our cities and our towns and our counties. There isn't anybody listening who doesn't know someone who hasn't stopped the practice of the faith.

All of the sacramental numbers have been headed the wrong direction. Weddings, First Communions, Baptisms, on and on and on, even funerals. Because Grandma doesn't actually get to decide herself whether or not she gets a Catholic funeral. All of the numbers have been headed the wrong direction for, well, for decades, for a generation.

[00:04:00] And then I noticed something else, that in the midst of this turmoil, Jesus talks about his disciples giving witness. He says they will be giving witness to a hostile world, to people that aren't disciples, to friends, family, neighbors, people who've fallen away. And it occurred to me, this is exactly what we've been called to by the Lord for the last 30 years.

The same 30 years where we've been shrinking and diminishing, the popes and bishops have been calling for a renewal of faith, that God's people would again rediscover our missionary identity and begin to give witness. John Paul II called it the new evangelization. Pope Benedict continued and echoed that call.

Pope Francis called us to be missionary disciples. You see, when the temple was destroyed, God's people were scattered. And that's something else that seems a little different. It seems like we're already scattered. There's something very good and precious in all of our little [00:05:00] parish congregations, in the rural area, and in our inner cities.

It has to be preserved. But right now, it seems like the only way to preserve it is to gather it together. To bring God's people back together. To save what's precious and good and to no longer let it wither and die. It has to be brought together so we can be strengthened and renewed and equipped for mission so we can, indeed, respond to the Lord's call to go back out and give witness.

I mean, in military terms, we'd call it a fallback so we can regroup and so we can go back out on the offensive to reach our friends, our family, our neighbors, all really a dying world with the good news. You see, the Vatican and Rome has also talked about this too. As they talk about this, this process of pastoral planning, there's a great quote where they say.

The church must again make a determined missionary decision, that we have to decide to be missionary again. And we have to be willing to let that decision [00:06:00] transform everything. Our structures, our ways of doing things, all for the evangelization of our world, not simply for our own self-preservation. You see, there's another big difference between our faith, and the faith of the early disciples that Jesus was speaking to.

Our faith isn't tied to geography or a temple building. See, we know that Jesus is the new temple. He, him, his body, his person, is where we come to worship. It's so hard to lose the worship at a church or a little parish where our parents were married, or where we grew up, or where we've worshipped the Lord all our lives.

We're going to have to drive a little bit further. We're going to have to make new friends as part of new communities, and that's hard. My prayer for you is that in these challenging times, that you can cling to Him, not your favorite mass time, not the church building that you regularly attend. Cling to Jesus.

He is the new temple, and watch what He can do when He gathers again His people in faith [00:07:00] to worship Him. I'm going to pray for us now. Lord, please renew Your people with a pure and passionate desire to worship You. Grant us again a bold and courageous witness to a dying world, to our friends, our neighbors, and our family who are far from you.
Have mercy on us through these transitions and make us new again. Amen. Alright, I'd love to hear your thoughts. You can respond back in the chat. at equip.ArchOmaha.org again that's equip.ArchOmaha.org. I'd love to hear your thoughts. If you're really a nerd and you want to check out that document, it's from the congregation for the clergy.

It's on pastoral planning. It's an instruction. The long title is the pastoral conversion of the parish community in the service of the evangelizing mission of the church. It's a mouthful. But it's a great read. So, if you're really nerdy and you want to check it out, you can find a link on the show notes.

Uh, it came out in July [00:08:00] of 2020. All right. Thanks everybody. God bless.