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Berkshires Congregations Don’t Take Attendance On Faith

Jim Levulis
/
WAMC

Recent grassroots efforts have prevented the razing of churches that have been closed for a number of years in Berkshire County. But the victories for preservationists don’t change the underlying issue, part of a national trend: many congregations are simply struggling to survive. In part one of a two-part series, this story takes a look at how active people are in existing religious organizations in the area.Over the past year community outcry and petitions have persuaded companies to pull back on plans to demolish the steeples of St. Mary the Morning Star in Pittsfield and North Adams’ St. Francis church. Those efforts pale in comparison to the 1,150-day occupation of St. Stan’s in Adams starting in 2009, an appeal that kept the parish running as a chapel of the Parish of Pope John Paul the Great. The church closures were part of a consolidation effort by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield during tough financial times. Six parishes, including St. Mary’s, closed in Pittsfield alone. St. Agnes in neighboring Dalton is the largest parish in Berkshire County with about 4,000 members, according to Father Chris Malatesta. He says the number of member families, which are dwindling with fewer children, is about the same as before consolidation, though there was an initial increase in membership.

“Across the country I think that Catholic mass participation is down from what it once was where everybody would go to mass every single Sunday,” Malatesta said. “Not all families do that anymore.”

With an average of 2,000 people in the pews, Malatesta says St. Agnes is lucky in that it can draw upon a large parishioner base to meet its financial obligations. It also helps that while the parish dates back more than a century, the church was built in the 1960s.

“I thank God everyday in regards to when they rebuilt St. Agnes Church to the present one that we have, it has beautiful ceilings and such in it, but it’s not a monstrosity,” said Malatesta. “Where some of our churches are absolutely huge and there are enormous heating costs that go along with them.”

One of the smaller parishes is Our Lady of the Valley, which has five buildings, some about a century old, in the southernmost portion of Berkshire County, according to Father Bruce Teague.

“We’ve been in the process over the last three or four years of trying to repair roofs, paint buildings, clean cellars and shore up our buildings for the future,” Teague said. “None of this would have happened without the support of the parishioners or their interest.”

Teague says the money for repairs comes from bequests and a fund into which people can make a donation in memory of a loved one. With about 200 registered members across roughly 15 villages, Teague says the parish is just breaking even.

“I think we’re OK for the next five years, beyond that I think it will be challenging,” said Teague.

In North County, Carolyn Peck became the new pastor for the 100 members of the First Congregational Church in North Adams in August.

“So it falls into the category of so many New England Protestant churches,” Peck said. “There’s a lot of them because they’ve inherited these huge buildings, but the numbers of the folks in the congregation have dwindled.”

The third pastor in the past five years, Peck says the parish is stabilizing and interest in increasing. With a 187-year-old building, she adds the parish has about a 10-year lifespan given the current financial model relying on family endowments from an aging congregation.

“You see it as a problem, but on the other hand it can really be a gift in getting institutions that have been kind of stuck to be able to rethink ‘Who are we? Who do we want to be in the future for our communities? What are we called to be?’” Peck said. “So it’s a good thing, but it requires a lot of shifting especially when you have an older age group for the most part in your congregations to think about church differently than what they were accustomed to.”

For Peck, the key to reestablishing the role of organized religion in everyday life in a more mobile and busy society is outreach.

“It’s not about getting people in, we need to go out,” Peck said. “If we are to follow what matters to us in our scriptures and what Jesus exemplified it’s about going out and being connected with people in the community. Then they say ‘Oh, this is what you do.’”

Nationally, according to Pew, one-fifth of Americans and a third under 30 have no religious affiliation, both records.  

Today’s mobile society also has an effect on The United American Muslim Association of the Berkshires. Started three years ago, the association rents space on Melville Street in Pittsfield after drawing too many people for the chapel at Berkshire Medical Center. President Gokseven Yildiz says attendance ranges from 15 to 40 people, taking into account that Muslims pray five times a day.

“Honestly I would say this is a small city for people, but people come and people leave especially those students who come to train at the hospital,” Yildiz said. “They would stay over course of say maybe three years and then they would move to different parts of the country.”

Peck says her parish is working to create a website to help with outreach and communication. Despite aging buildings, rising costs and uncertainty about the future of organized religion, Father Teague sees hope coming from Pope Francis. In what he calls the “Francis Effect,” Teague says the church is becoming relevant in society once again by meeting people where they are, both physically and metaphorically.

“What he wants us to do us and he wants our church to respond to are the real challenges that people are experiencing in their lives,” Teague said. “The breakup of marriages, people being remarried, families being blended and single parents raising kids. Our church he says should be a field hospital on the battlefield of life. So we have to move beyond the pulpit and the prayer life of Sunday religious service into the minds and hearts of the people in our parish.”

Teague says he tries to cover as much ground as he can every day talking to parishioners and non-parishioners at ball games, school events and stores. He adds Pope Francis is urging parishioners to reach out to their neighbors as well. Rabbi Josh Breindel of Temple Anshe Amunim in Pittsfield says the desire to be part of a community is returning during this digital age.

“I think what we’re being to see is the pendulum switching back,” Breindel said. “People feel lonely. A house of worship is one classic place to go to feel a sense of connection and even recharge a little bit both spirituality and socially.”

The second story in this two-part series takes a look at how some religious organizations in the Berkshires are having success in reaching more people. That story will air Thursday on Midday Magazine on WAMC.

Jim is WAMC’s Associate News Director and hosts WAMC's flagship news programs: Midday Magazine, Northeast Report and Northeast Report Late Edition. Email: jlevulis@wamc.org
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