New Yorkers on Sunday flocked to hear Mass in a Roman Catholic Church that has been scheduled for closing by the Archdiocese of New York because of dwindling attendance.
Rev. Bartholomew Daly told the New York Times that, on Sunday afternoon, the Our Lady of Peace Church in Manhattan was so "packed" that some churchgoers even had to stand just to hear Mass.
Our Lady of Peace is one of the churches that will be affected by the Archdiocese's reorganisation efforts to create 55 new parishes in New York in response to weakening attendance and thinning of finances to maintain the parishes.
The reorganisation, the New York Times reported last month, will result to the closing of 112 churches including Our Lady of Peace.
Despite the declaration from the Archdiocese of the finality of the decision, parishioners engaged in a passionate campaign to keep the Our Lady of Peace and other struggling churches from being closed. Parishioners established an online election to pick churches that will benefit from what they referred to as "Mass mobs" – large groups of people who will attend Mass en masse in the selected church.
The Our Lady of Peace became the first recipient of the online election.
"What the archdiocese wants to see is more vibrant parishes," a parish leader told the Times after Mass was celebrated. "How can you be a more vibrant parish than this one?"
For his part, Rev. Daly thanked the attendees for coming to hear Mass in Our Lady of Peace. "We hope that your presence here today will strengthen us and make it possible for us to continue as Our Lady of Peace," he told the Mass mob.
He also told them that God might have something else in store for them.
"We dread any kind of change, but maybe God has something marvelous for us, something we cannot see now. God is a God of surprises, and he gives us what we don't always expect," Rev. Daly concluded.
