It is the absolute worst. In this area - Detroit - everyone relies on the Catholic school their children attend to be the community. So if your child doesn't go to Catholic school, or if you don't have children, forming community is nearly impossible.
We had several good things going, pre-Covid: a pot luck family game night with a rosary beforehand, lots of small groups, etc. Covid just ruined everything and now...it just hasn't come back. People just don't come to things anymore and those of us who were running things got burned out trying to deal with the policies and politics of masks/distancing/etc.
To be honest, I'm tired. I'm tired of trying to make things happen and hitting repeated red tape. I feel so much for the new moms: women who are having their first or second babies. The community just isn't there for them. Until their children are old enough to go to school, they're basically rudderless.
And then people wonder why there's a vocation crisis, declining admissions for Catholic schools, budget shortfalls, etc. It's because people are having smaller families to some degree because there isn't a community to help. I'd like to think this is a problem with American Catholicism, and that other places it's better, but if someone could come over here and give the U.S. a lesson in community building, that'd be great.
It is the absolute worst. In this area - Detroit - everyone relies on the Catholic school their children attend to be the community. So if your child doesn't go to Catholic school, or if you don't have children, forming community is nearly impossible.
We had several good things going, pre-Covid: a pot luck family game night with a rosary beforehand, lots of small groups, etc. Covid just ruined everything and now...it just hasn't come back. People just don't come to things anymore and those of us who were running things got burned out trying to deal with the policies and politics of masks/distancing/etc.
To be honest, I'm tired. I'm tired of trying to make things happen and hitting repeated red tape. I feel so much for the new moms: women who are having their first or second babies. The community just isn't there for them. Until their children are old enough to go to school, they're basically rudderless.
And then people wonder why there's a vocation crisis, declining admissions for Catholic schools, budget shortfalls, etc. It's because people are having smaller families to some degree because there isn't a community to help. I'd like to think this is a problem with American Catholicism, and that other places it's better, but if someone could come over here and give the U.S. a lesson in community building, that'd be great.