Question: What are the projections for the next 10 years of life and faith in North Royalton and at Saint Albert the Great that impact are decision to embrace “Building Faith: A New Generation”
This question has been raised in several of the conversations that I have been involved in concerning what the future of St. Albert the Great parish might look like 10 years from now. Because my response was so long I had to stretch it iover two bulletins (this week 9/15 and next week 9/22)
There are great opportunities for an expansion of the Catholic faith within the population of North Royalton over the next 10 years. Here at St. Albert we are constantly developing new ministries directed at that expansion. The “Building Faith: A New Generation” project will assist us in that expansion, as well as, maintain the older population‘s participation in church life due to the many accommodations and accessibility “Building Faith: A New Generation” will add to parish life.
Regarding the statistics and the future of membership in our parish. The future membership of St. Albert the Great Parish would clearly be susceptible to the housing market and demographics in this town. They are currently building new houses in North Royalton. These are typically houses with four or more bedrooms. People with large families are moving in and all of our parish realtors tell us that most new listings in N. Royalton don't last one day on the market before multiple offers are presented. Catholics are about 30% of the national population, probably a little higher in North Royalton.
Regarding the numbers of registered parishioners (which is different than participating members). In 2013 we did a serious and comprehensive census of all of our registered households and we discovered and removed over 400 non-functioning addresses, non-existent families, and non-responsive registrants in our system. Over the past six years, our registered households have remained constant, in spite of the fact that we have added at least 125 households a year through our registration process. One reality that contributes to that statistic is that we bury about 80 parishioners a year. While those deceased represent only one member, they are often the last widowed member of a household and thus we lose an entire household at each of their funerals.
While our numbers of worshipping Catholics (often referred to as participating members) have remained relatively flat over the past 10 years in spite of our efforts to increase them (e.g Every One Add One, etc), there are many signs of vibrancy and life.
-Last year we had over 80 baptisms (certainly one of the largest numbers of baptisms for any Catholic parish in the diocese).
-We registered 88 members of this year’s kindergarten class (part of the largest Catholic elementary school in the diocese of Cleveland)
-After opening in 2013 we now have a waiting list for our 125 members preschool (the largest Catholic preschool in the diocese of Cleveland in an area that has many successful longtime preschool options).
The presence of these children and their families in our ministry of Catholic education seems to be a very healthy prospect for the next 10 years.
(this is to be continued in next week's article)