Trinity Lutheran Church to hold final mass on Christmas Eve after 118 years of worship
It has been 118 years since Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church's congregation first gathered to worship.
On Christmas Eve, they'll come together for a final time.
"Honestly, that is the cycle of life, right? We're celebrating the birth of Jesus as we're also celebrating the end of our ministry," pastor Sarah Dymund said.
At its peak the church was serving well over 1,000 people, according to Dymund, although those days have long since passed.
The decision to close the church has been hard, the pastor said, but it was made by the flock. The churchgoers voted in June to close the ministry and dissolve the congregation.
Kitz said it's been hard seeing the number of attendees shrink over the years, leading to parts of the church being sold off.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trinity-luther...00303.html
With one last hymn, parishioners bid farewell to 150-year-old church in small Minnesota town
WILSON TOWNSHIP, MINN. – The last time the Catholic church here faced an existential threat was on New Year’s Eve 1935, when the church was set ablaze. Not even a trace of its sacred vessels was found in the debris.
The hardship of the Great Depression did little to deter the congregation here just outside Winona. Within weeks, parishioners were rebuilding. Men of the parish volunteered to clean up debris and excavate the property, while others scraped together $3,000 — close to $70,000 today — to rebuild.
After 150 years of worship, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Wilson is on the verge of destruction yet again. This fall, the Diocese of Winona-Rochester announced its intention to demolish the church as part of an effort to consolidate churches in the area after years of declining attendance.
For longtime parishioners, that meant the Sunday service was likely their last opportunity to bid farewell to a local landmark that served as an anchor for the Catholic community in this farming town of about 1,100 people. The diocese plans to use the land under the building to expand a neighboring cemetery that predates the church.
As the final hymn rang out across the pews, tears were shed, hugs exchanged and memories brought back to life.
In 2022, with attendance dwindling, the diocese announced Immaculate Conception would merge with the congregation at nearby St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Lewiston.
The merger was part of a series of consolidations and closures in southeast Minnesota triggered by the diocese’s “Vision 2016″ plan, which was meant to address shortages in clergy and declining church attendance. It was around the same time that the diocese filed for bankruptcy in response to claims of abuse by clergy. The diocese later reached a $21.5 million settlement with 145 childhood sexual abuse victims.
https://www.startribune.com/with-one-las.../601194537
From the last month:
St. James Church in Ferndale holds final Mass
After serving the community for more than a century, St. James Church held its last Mass on Sunday.
The church will be closing its doors, but the building will find new life. It will be available for secular use starting Monday. As for what that could be, no information has been shared yet.
“I’m abundantly sad but life goes on,” Rev. Paul Chateau said. “I deal with death a lot, and this is akin to that.”
The packed mass, which left many standing, felt bittersweet for parishioners.
“On a normal weekend, we average about 95 parishioners here at this Mass,” said Christopher Hickner, who’s also on the transition team. “So, it’s a beautiful thing to see the church full today but for all those who made comments on Facebook about being parishioners here -- in the past, if you were here all this time, this church would not be closing today.”
Other members on the transition team also tell Local 4 the deterioration of the building only compounded the financial stress.
Parishioners will now have to migrate to nearby churches.
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/loca...inal-mass/
From September:
Historic New Jersey church holds final mass: 'Today is a very sad day'
Grandparents and grandchildren reflected on 110 years' worth of memories, taking their final seats in the sanctuary as songs, prayers and mass won’t ring through it next week.
Clergy leaders made the decision to close the church this summer following a shrinking attendance by 35% since 201, on top of mounting costs of maintenance and repairs.
But after the final mass, the archbishop of the Newark archdiocese issued a final blessing on the building, which felt bigger than a church.
It was an emotional final mass and now that the doors are closed, parishioners and church leaders are transitioned to Saint Mary's blocks away, which will be the new church home.
https://www.fox5ny.com/news/nj-church-fi...se-bayonne
It has been 118 years since Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church's congregation first gathered to worship.
On Christmas Eve, they'll come together for a final time.
"Honestly, that is the cycle of life, right? We're celebrating the birth of Jesus as we're also celebrating the end of our ministry," pastor Sarah Dymund said.
At its peak the church was serving well over 1,000 people, according to Dymund, although those days have long since passed.
The decision to close the church has been hard, the pastor said, but it was made by the flock. The churchgoers voted in June to close the ministry and dissolve the congregation.
Kitz said it's been hard seeing the number of attendees shrink over the years, leading to parts of the church being sold off.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trinity-luther...00303.html
With one last hymn, parishioners bid farewell to 150-year-old church in small Minnesota town
WILSON TOWNSHIP, MINN. – The last time the Catholic church here faced an existential threat was on New Year’s Eve 1935, when the church was set ablaze. Not even a trace of its sacred vessels was found in the debris.
The hardship of the Great Depression did little to deter the congregation here just outside Winona. Within weeks, parishioners were rebuilding. Men of the parish volunteered to clean up debris and excavate the property, while others scraped together $3,000 — close to $70,000 today — to rebuild.
After 150 years of worship, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Wilson is on the verge of destruction yet again. This fall, the Diocese of Winona-Rochester announced its intention to demolish the church as part of an effort to consolidate churches in the area after years of declining attendance.
For longtime parishioners, that meant the Sunday service was likely their last opportunity to bid farewell to a local landmark that served as an anchor for the Catholic community in this farming town of about 1,100 people. The diocese plans to use the land under the building to expand a neighboring cemetery that predates the church.
As the final hymn rang out across the pews, tears were shed, hugs exchanged and memories brought back to life.
In 2022, with attendance dwindling, the diocese announced Immaculate Conception would merge with the congregation at nearby St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Lewiston.
The merger was part of a series of consolidations and closures in southeast Minnesota triggered by the diocese’s “Vision 2016″ plan, which was meant to address shortages in clergy and declining church attendance. It was around the same time that the diocese filed for bankruptcy in response to claims of abuse by clergy. The diocese later reached a $21.5 million settlement with 145 childhood sexual abuse victims.
https://www.startribune.com/with-one-las.../601194537
From the last month:
St. James Church in Ferndale holds final Mass
After serving the community for more than a century, St. James Church held its last Mass on Sunday.
The church will be closing its doors, but the building will find new life. It will be available for secular use starting Monday. As for what that could be, no information has been shared yet.
“I’m abundantly sad but life goes on,” Rev. Paul Chateau said. “I deal with death a lot, and this is akin to that.”
The packed mass, which left many standing, felt bittersweet for parishioners.
“On a normal weekend, we average about 95 parishioners here at this Mass,” said Christopher Hickner, who’s also on the transition team. “So, it’s a beautiful thing to see the church full today but for all those who made comments on Facebook about being parishioners here -- in the past, if you were here all this time, this church would not be closing today.”
Other members on the transition team also tell Local 4 the deterioration of the building only compounded the financial stress.
Parishioners will now have to migrate to nearby churches.
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/loca...inal-mass/
From September:
Historic New Jersey church holds final mass: 'Today is a very sad day'
Grandparents and grandchildren reflected on 110 years' worth of memories, taking their final seats in the sanctuary as songs, prayers and mass won’t ring through it next week.
Clergy leaders made the decision to close the church this summer following a shrinking attendance by 35% since 201, on top of mounting costs of maintenance and repairs.
But after the final mass, the archbishop of the Newark archdiocese issued a final blessing on the building, which felt bigger than a church.
It was an emotional final mass and now that the doors are closed, parishioners and church leaders are transitioned to Saint Mary's blocks away, which will be the new church home.
https://www.fox5ny.com/news/nj-church-fi...se-bayonne
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
