I drive down the main thoroughfare in Westbrook, Maine where I used to pass the St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church. No more

The building is totally gone. I don't know what is going on in the rectory or at least what was once the rectory. But I don't believe anything priestly is held there.

The parochial school is no longer a school but used for secular purposes.

In other words, St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church has disappeared forever from this southern Maine village just outside Portland.

So it is with many other Catholic sanctuaries that used to be.

Someone told me a few months ago that 80 Roman Catholic Churches have been closed in the heretofore strongly Catholic Boston. The number has no doubt increased since being told that.

When in Quebec, Elizabeth, the Bed and Breakfast owner told me that she no longer attends any religious services, though once Roman Catholic. I heard church bells ringing the first evening we arrived. I asked her: "Is there a Roman Catholic Church near here?" She answered: "No."

The next morning I walked around the corner to discover a huge Roman Catholic Church. That church had rung the bells. However, Elizabeth no longer heard them.

When in Springfield, Massachusetts recently I attended weekday Mass at the St. Michael's Roman Catholic Cathedral on State Street. There were about fifty gathered in the small chapel off from the main sanctuary.

After worship I spoke with an elderly non who unlocked the inside door to the sanctuary. She was proud to show me various objects that the cathedral had acquired when merging with another Catholic community in the city.

In other words, that community closed up. The Cathedral played patriarchal and took in the parishioners.

The nun explained to me that the parochial schools had been sold to the public school system. The convent was no more. She was dwelling with another nun in some sort of housing provided by the diocese.

I spoke with ex-Catholic Mainer Ann who told me that in Portland, Maine it was expected that St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church will close, the priest retiring. The parochial school nearby has already been turned into condominiums.

I attended Holy Week Mass at Portland's St. Peter's Church just off India Street. I inquired if the Franciscan Order was still providing priests from Manhattan to that parish. The answer was that no longer are they provided due to no priests for Portland available. Instead, the diocese has taken charge of St. Peter's.

St. Dominic's Roman Catholic Church in Portland has already been turned into an ethic center as has St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Lewiston.

"We now have clusters," a Catholic explained to me. That is, Catholic Churches still open are clustered into communities of worship while certain sanctuaries have had to close their doors. "Cluster" sounded like an endearing term to me. It spoke of hugging close to one another as certain family parts were dying off.

I have grown up as an evangelical Protestant attending Catholic services. I've been in this habit since my college days. I have enjoyed making a study of Roman Catholicism wherever I lived over my lifetime.

And now it is surprising to me to learn that so much of the heretofore Catholic presence is disappearing rapidly, quietly, sadly to those who shed tears in losing their buildings where marriages, burials and baptisms were held.

It appears that throughout North America, liberal denominations are losing people and buildings while at the same time Roman Catholicism is experiencing the same.

On the other hand, evangelical congregations are enjoying a boon in statistics and edifices. While in Nova Scotia, for instance, I came upon a lovely Anglican Church ready for demolition. It was situated in a pristine rural village. Grass had grown up all around it, weeds predominating. The building was in need of repair.

Just across the street was a modest church building nearing construction completion. The name above the front door read "Holiness Church."

"There are a lot of cars parked at that church on Sundays," the local eatery owner told me. In other words, the evangelical congregation is thriving while the theologically liberal congregation has abandoned its rural sanctuary for the wrecking crew.

J. Grant Swank Jr.
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