There goes the church
Aultman-Moore, Virginia
THERE GOES THE CHURCH Virginia Aultman-Moore ast month, the faithful at Saint Ursula's mission in I)ursglove, West Virginia, engaged in a poignant defense of their sixty-five-year-old...
...I wasn't goin' to church at all for years, but started back when Father started changin' things around here...
...They are a motley bunch, not unlike the original disciples...
...Saint Ursula's has survived crises before, including fire and flood...
...But through their very personal testimonies, a patchwork image of a community ecnerges: colorful, textured, worn, but not worn out...
...The shortage of priests, and a reconfiguration of existing parishes in nearby Morgantown threaten the continued existence of this tiny congregation...
...Now I come every week with my eightytwo-year-old mother...
...But I've been coming here and l feel welcome and accepted...
...For about an hour, the testimonies continue...
...As a member of Saint Ursula's sister parish, it was through volunteer work at Saint Ursula's food pantry that I first came here...
...Four years ago, the church had been limping along with falling revenues and declining membership, when a newly ordained, energetic pastor accepted responsibility for the mission...
...Similar town meetings are scheduled through April at two other Morgantown parishes, including my church, where similar dramas will be replayed...
...On a typical Sunday, warm sunlight floods the cream-tinted windows while the original bell proclaims the start of Mass...
...Tearfully) "'A few years ago, I had stopped being Catholic...
...If you close this church, I ain't goin across the river...
...Woman, sixty...
...The diocesan representative is friendly and apologetic, but expIains that the diocese must make some difficult choices...
...How about if you go ahead and reinstate some of them married priests...
...The result of this parish renewal has been that over the last four years, membership has doubled and financial reserves have grown exponentially...
...Their accounts are halting and sometimes miss the mark...
...THERE GOES THE CHURCH Virginia Aultman-Moore ast month, the faithful at Saint Ursula's mission in I)ursglove, West Virginia, engaged in a poignant defense of their sixty-five-year-old country church before an administrator from the diocese of Wheeling/Charleston...
...Them people look down their noses at us from around here...
...The crisis...
...When parishioners raised money for their pantry by transforming it into a dance floor last year, some of the older parishioners didn't miss a dance, while the pastor captured the polka title...
...He invites a response and listens attentively as the group, gathered in the basement, attempts to rally a defense...
...This time the threat to their church's existence comes not from the coal companies or merchants who have abandoned the area to economic decline, or even from the state's highway commission which is considering a new four-lane corridor through town...
...When people come to our food pantry, we don't just hand them their food...
...Conlnlonweal 3 | April24, 1998...
...Sometimes we cry with them...
...They tell us their troubles...
...Newcomers (like myself) are noticed and warmly welcomed...
...There'd be plenty of priests then . . . . " (Male, sixty-five...
...My husband and I have been part of this parish for thirty years and we've been through a lot with these people...
...On an early March evening, the mood is anxious as people await the start of the town meeting...
...A lot of them want to talk, so we talk...
...Finally, the priest from Wheeling declares that our concerns have been heard and will be communicated to the bishop...
...A member of the parish council reads a prepared letter, a polite, ardent plea for survival, then points to a display of charts and figures...
...This time, parishioners must defend their church to their own leadership...
...Single mother, mid-thirties...
...This is an important place for me and my daughter...
...White, but not white-collar, these people are neither lawyers nor wordsmiths, but among them are gifted cooks, gardeners, laborers, homemakers, and sometimes polka dancers...
...A reinvigorated church responded to new opportunities for worship and community service...
...Male, forty...
...Female, fifty-five...
...It is an experience more American Catholics will undergo in coming years, i : Virginia Aultman-Moore is a social worker living in Westover, West Virginia...
...It's like home...
...A decision will be forthcoming in May...
...I can't imagine goin' nowhere else...
...They invested money and labor in redecorating the interior, bringing back a gleam to the wooden pews and nut-brown walls, freshening up the colors in the sanctuary, and reconfign~ring the worship space...
...Despite this success, parishioners now face the distinct possibility that their church will have to close...
...The floor is opened to the parishioners who, one by one, stand to praise their small church...
...I tried the big churches across the river, but I felt out of place...
Vol. 125 • April 1998 • No. 8
