It's part of your community gone

Atlantic Canada > News "You have to be able to afford this morality!"
'It's part of your community gone': parishioners mourn the impending closure of the only church in this small New York town
An aging population and declining attendance mean there aren't enough worshippers to pay the bills
Juanita Mercer - Multimedia Journalist |
https://tinyurl.com/mrfnux99...so sad to read-pity, a terrible trend!
After more LOGO intro exercises (which are not yet convincing) and moralizing by Mstr.X-Elon, we experience a deeply destructive amoral society from perhaps the best alien point of view! You have to be able to afford this morality!
There are always innocent victims for whom we should pray!
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Explore the BBC Queens from around the world descend on Canada once again and form girl groups to kick off the battle for the crown. Guest judge is Charlotte Cardin. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode
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Atlantic Canada > News
‘It's a part of your community gone’: Congregants mourn the impending closure of the only church in this small N.L. town
An aging population and declining attendance means there aren’t enough worshippers to pay the bills

Juanita Mercer · Multi-media journalist | Posted: a day ago | Updated: a day ago |
Like many small communities, St. Jones Within is coming to grips with the impending closure of its only church, Faith United Church. Juanita Mercer • The Telegram
Like many small communities, St. Jones Within is coming to grips with the impending closure of its only church, Faith United Church. Juanita Mercer • The Telegram
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Children represent hope for the future, and nowhere have I witnessed that to be more true than at a recent Faith United Church service in my Trinity Bay hometown of St. Jones Within.
When the dozen or so congregants, the youngest of whom were probably in their 60s, saw my daughter, age 3, toddle over the bright blue carpet and perch on a pew, their eyes lit up.They even sang a special song just for her — a popular Sunday school hymn. They smiled widely in her direction as they belted out the chorus: “Yes, Jesus loves me.”
At the time, I chalked it up to a congregation that doesn’t see many young people in attendance. I didn’t understand the magnitude of what I was witnessing.
This little church, at the end of a bumpy road, was nearing the end of its road.
‘It’s heartbreaking’
“In the not too distant future, we're going to lose the church,” Sylvia Hillyard told me.
Hillyard, 73, is an active member of the congregation and the secretary of the local church board.
The minister, Rev. Gneid Lackey, recently had her hours cut back to part time because it’s all that the congregation can afford.
“Our funds are getting really low, so we're not going to have any choice but to let her go. Right now, we've decided to keep her until the end of September, and go month by month as we can afford to keep her,” Hillyard explained.
“It’s heartbreak—,” her voice cracked with emotion, and she tried again: “It’s heartbreaking.”
“It's a part of your community gone,” she said, shaking her head.Arlettie King, 92, is one of the regular church-goers.
She said she will miss the church when it’s gone, but the fact is there just isn’t enough money to keep it going. She said she’ll still read her Bible every morning, and watch church services on television.
Hillyard explained that younger people are not attending church — a trend that’s not unique to this place. Paired with the aging community, there are very few people contributing financially to the church, and few able-bodied people left to do the work of fundraising and maintenance.
“We knew that this was going to happen eventually, but we just didn't expect it to happen this soon. It's going to be a very sad day when we finally realize it's gone,” Hillyard said.
‘Another thing gone’
It rained Friday morning, but exactly 10 years earlier warm sun shone down on the yellow-orange pews as the church packed with people.
All of our family and friends stogged inside to watch my husband and I say our wedding vows.
Decorating the entrance were pink peonies picked from Mom’s garden.
I have a picture of us laughing while we exchanged rings. For the life of me, I can’t recall what we were laughing about, but it always makes me smile when I see it.
After the birth of our daughter, that day ranks as the happiest of my life, and it happened here, at this church that could soon be closed.
I don’t place much value on physical things, but losing the church seems to signify so much more in this small town.
I remember when I was first bused to Clarenville Primary School after the St. Jones Within school closed. Classmates asked about my community. I can distinctly remember proudly listing on one hand: “We have a store, a church, a ballfield, a community centre, and a wharf.”
When the church is gone, the only thing left on that list will be the community centre, but it’s not all lost — the ballfield is now a playground, and a floating dock has replaced the government wharf.
“It's sad because it's a stable thing in your community … and now, once that's gone, that's another thing gone,” Hillyard said.
‘There's no one to pass the baton on to’
It was just after my husband and I married that Rev. Lackey arrived.
The 37-year-old from Nova Scotia told me she was excited to come to Newfoundland.
This was her first placement after she graduated with a master's of divinity. She serves not only St. Jones Within, but also Grace United Church in nearby Hillview and Emmanuel United in North West Brook.
She said the Emmanuel United congregation already held an informal vote in favour of closing that church.When she talked about her work, she said there’s a lot more funerals these days.
She said the biggest change she’s noticed in the past decade is the aging congregation.
“A lot of people haven't been joining the church for a long time, and that was OK when congregants were younger and could keep everything going, like patch the roof or fix the leak in the basement.
“But now, the faith is still there and very strong, and there's a beautiful spirit in the people of Newfoundland, but in terms of the body of Christ, that has gotten a little bit older, and I feel for them because in a time when I should be caring for them, and they should just be taking a break and relaxing, for the last 10 years they've been worried about keeping the doors open and raising money.
“I just think in every generation before there's always been someone to pass that work on to, but this is the first generation where I don't think they feel like they can let go because there's no one to pass the baton on to.

“I feel for them because they have so much here, but there's so many things working against them — younger people moving out of bay communities, the health-care system being so hard to navigate, there's so many things.”

She exhaled a loud “oof” to indicate the weight of it all.
She said she’s now looking for a full-time position somewhere in the Maritimes, closer to her home province.

“It's emotional for me, too. There have been a lot of tears.”https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/news/its-a-part-of-your-community-gone-congregants-mourn-the-impending-closure-of-the-only-church-in-this-small-nl-town-100980891/
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