u/babyteeth9

I always thought it was interesting that so many parishes have the “folk style” mass- with the guitars, flute, and piano with a “praise team” as opposed to an organ.

I feel fortunate to attend a parish that has a choir, pipe organ, old hymns, and Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, etc are sung in Latin. Very traditional parish, minus the full “Latin Mass-“ it is still Novus Ordo.

What is the music at your parish like? Traditional or Contemporary/Folk?

A pastor at an episcopal church did a cannonball into a kiddie pool during his sermon. Kind of weird. What do you think?

I feel like among the older generations that didn’t leave the church, they were “loyal” to their denomination, regardless of politics. Always going to a Lutheran Church because their family was always Lutheran or always going to a Methodist Church because their family was Methodist for generations. Which could explain why we also still see some older conservatives in the UMC, TEC, ELCA, etc.

Now it seems like younger Protestants aren’t tied down to a particular denomination. A lot of the younger people that grew up in a mainline church either no longer attend church or are apart of a non-denominational church.

What do you think?

I feel like among the older generations that didn’t leave the church, they were “loyal” to their denomination, regardless of politics. Always going to a Lutheran Church because their family was always Lutheran or always going to a Methodist Church because their family was Methodist for generations. Which could explain why we also still see some older conservatives in the UMC, TEC, ELCA, etc.

Now it seems like younger Protestants aren’t tied down to a particular denomination. A lot of the younger people that grew up in a mainline church either no longer attend church or are apart of a non-denominational church.

What do you think?

From the article:

>'Pizza to Pews' meetups drew 200 young adults by the third week, with some driving in from Long Island or from Boston

Great way to evangelize!

6 years ago now churches everywhere were closed or operating under limited capacity. This caused some churches to accelerate their decline while other churches bounced back to pre-Covid numbers, some even exceeding their numbers from pre-Covid. How did yours do?

I'm in the US. The Catholic Church I attend right now, I have only attended briefly, but from what I have heard from long-termers, it took them a few years to get back to where they were before. Attendance was down in the couple years after 2020, but really started to get back to regular numbers in 2024-2025. Now the attendance and contributions are probably exceeding pre-Covid with a record number of people in the OCIA class (The class people take to be received into the church by converting).

My original home church is an ELCA Lutheran Church, and they went from having two services before Covid to just one. I think the average attendance before Covid was just over 100, now they are at 60-75 from what I have heard (I haven't been back since before Covid). Several older members have passed away, and other families never came back after Covid- IMO they stayed closed for too long so that probably contributed. Plus, it was already declining before Covid, so Covid just accelerated it. Still, I hear there are new people attending, but not enough to make up for the losses.

How about your church? Which country and denomination are you?

Class of 2008 here. I would say the most common girls names were by far Amanda and Ashley. We also had a high number of Kelsey compared to ’07 and ‘09. A lot of Emilys, Jessica’s, and Brittneys as well.

For guys the number one was probably either Michael or Matthew. Next tier would probably be Kyle, David, Justin, Chris, Tyler, and Zack (or Zachary).

Mostly the classic American millennial names.