The End of the Year, The End for Two Longtime Churches
Two longtime Chicago-area churches call it quits
The close of 2007 brought the close of two eras Sunday in the Chicago area. Two churches with histories of more than 100 years each shuttered because of dwindling attendance.
Today's Chicago Tribune spotlighted the sad tales in its Metro section, chronicling the final services at the Church of the Mediator, a 129-year-old Episcopalian congregation on the city's South Side. The very end of the article also mentioned the end for St. Paul's Community Church, founded 115 years ago by Norwegian Lutherans.
Perhaps the saddest aspect of the story came from the parish leader of Church of the Mediator. "We weren't ever able to build up a young congregation again. People leave. Many families die out," Mary Reich told the Chicago Tribune. The article continued: "Reich said church members debated closing as early as 1980."
Twenty-seven years of wondering about closure, of wondering what to do to try and draw new attenders.
On a positive note, not all is glum for old churches in the Chicago area. A stand-alone photo and caption in the same edition of the Chicago Tribune spotlighted the 150th anniversary of the Holy Family Catholic Church, which hosted an open house featuring antiques from the church's history. Not only has the house of worship made it this long--it managed to survive the 1871 Chicago Fire, which destroyed much of the city.
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Comments
Not trying to be nasty or anything but I can't help but wonder if the neighborhood that the Church of the Mediator was in fact losing its' population or was there a demographic change in terms of the ethnicity of the local residents that the church never addressed?
If that area didn't lose residents in terms of numbers, then in my opinion (which is meaningless after all is said and done) the church not knowing what to do for at least the last 27 years was based more on the fact that they had no strategy (and perhaps even less interest) in becoming a congregation that reflected the diversity of their neighborhood.
That is not good.
Posted by: Rob Daniels | January 2, 2008 11:36 AM