Word: parishes
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Gertrude's Church on Chicago's North Side, even the traditional Mass is a little too hip for some old-timers. "I miss the Latin Mass; it just seemed more reverent," says Raymond Seitz, 68, who married into the middle- class parish in 1950 and is still smarting from the seismic Vatican II reforms of the early 1960s. "And when they started ending the Mass with this 'peace be with you' stuff, where you have to shake your neighbors' hands or kiss them, well, that didn't go over well at all." But at St. Gertrude...
Stocked with Irish and German Catholics when it first opened in 1912, the middle-class parish on the city's northern edge is increasingly filled with Asians, African Americans and Hispanics. That influx has not been enough to offset the impact of smaller families and the exodus of many parishioners fleeing rising crime. Since Mass attendance peaked in 1975 at about 2,700, it has steadily declined 5% a year. Kenneally decided to start the gym Mass just months after he arrived at the parish in 1984 as a way to lure back Catholics who considered the traditional Mass...
...Nationwide, only 41% of those who call themselves Catholics say they attend weekly Mass.) Kenneally must cope with the challenge of bringing people back into the fold at the same time as he and his fellow pastors face a growing priest shortage. Since Kenneally joined the parish 10 years ago, the number of full-time priests has dropped from four to just one: himself. St. Gertrude's five-year plan identifies one key challenge as "Saving Pastor From Burnout." Kenneally jokes, "Maybe it's my hangdog look." With six different Masses to officiate at each weekend, as well as weddings...
Within the parish, the bitterest battles are usually fought within the hearts of individual parishioners trying to square their own faith with the dictates of Rome. For Bruce Schermerhorn, 47, the struggle escalated when he got divorced in 1976. Remarried by a judge in 1985, he attended Mass regularly without taking Communion. "I've always had an adversarial relationship with the church," he says. Last year, after joining a weekly men's prayer group, he finally decided to take Communion. "Well, I wasn't struck down by a bolt & of lightning and the ceiling didn't open up," he says...
...conservatives, who still dominate the parish, Pope John Paul II provides much-needed reinforcement during a period of discomforting ambiguity. Reaction among liberals varies from weary toleration to outright ridicule. "To me, this guy is a saint," says Papachristos. "But my son says he's no good at all. I say Where did I go wrong with my son?" Andrew, 18, considers his mom a little closed-minded and counters, "The church has to keep changing or it will lose people...