photo by: Joselyn King

The Most Rev. Mark Brennan, bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, stands outside St. John Catholic Church in Benwood following a Mass that marked the 150th anniversary of the church.

Catholic churches in small communities can still continue to grow and thrive — even as overall population is decreasing — if members are willing to do the outreach, according to the Most Rev. Mark Brennan, bishop of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese.

Brennan delivered the message at St. John Catholic Church in Benwood, which celebrated its 150th birthday on Sunday.

He said attendance “was good” for the historical milestone.

“It’s a small parish, but Benwood is much smaller than it used to be, too,” Brennan said. “There were younger and older folks, and it was a joy to see them participating.”

The church celebrated in a newer structure that opened in 2017, two years after a March 2015 fire decimated a grand structure that had stood for more than 100 years.

Brennan explained the church’s current facility is actually its third. He believes the original St. John Catholic Church in Bellaire was demolished sometime in the late 1800s in favor of a larger structure.

Brennan noted the size of the newer building “is just right.”

“It’s not as big as it used to be. But I’m hoping it will grow,” he added.

His message to the church on Sunday was, “We are not a Catholic Club.”

“We are a movement through history proclaiming Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior of the whole world,” Brennan said. “That’s kind of a big mission to have, but each parish takes part in that mission.

“If this parish takes their mission seriously to share their faith with others, then this parish can be growing. It’s not that we just want more people. We want more people with whom to share the experience of being in union with Jesus Christ. We want to share that with people. If this parish can take this seriously, it can be growing even if the population phenomenon in this part of West Virginia (continues to decrease).”

Brennan noted enrollment in Catholic schools locally has been increasing over the past five years, and there are more seminarians seeking to enter the priesthood through the diocese.

“We were down to four at one point, and we have 14 right now,” he said. “We have five more applicants.”

Brennan suggested that if the church engages in outreach to two specific groups, it could see growth in its numbers even in communities where the population is decreasing.

First, he is hopeful Catholics who walked away from the church in recent years — “for whatever reason” — could return if there is proper outreach. Secondly, he added there also are many West Virginians who have no religious affiliation who could find a home in the Catholic Church if invited.

“There is a field to harvest,” he continued. “I’ve challenged them to do it. Le’ts see if they do it.”