April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
WEATHER WOES
A winter struggle for rural Catholics
Still, leaders at some of the Diocese's rural parishes boast that their parishioners are used to dealing with inclement weather and long drives, and that they look out for neighbors who aren't.
"If you live in the country, you have the transportation" to traverse rural roads, said Rev. Christopher Welch, pastor of St. Paul the Apostle parish in Hancock. Parishioners may live as far as 20 miles away from the church; some carpool to Mass each weekend.
Mass attendance at the Delaware County parish has been down by about 25 people from its usual 125-per-liturgy this winter. Father Welch does home visits for elderly parishioners, and parishioners bring communion to about 15 homebound Catholics. The next closest parishes in the Diocese are Holy Cross in Sidney and St. John the Baptist in Walton - 35 miles and 22 miles away, respectively.
Bring a friend
At St. John the Baptist parish in Newport, Herkimer County, parishioner Liz Fusco brings a friend to church on Sundays from a senior center near her Utica home, about 15 miles away. People who live around Middleville or Hinckley - both locations where there were once Catholic churches - travel the 10 to 15 miles to get to Newport. There's only one Sunday Mass, at 8:30 a.m.
"It's definitely an issue," Mrs. Fusco said of transportation to Mass in the winter, adding that there are "unchurched" people in general because of the challenges rural life poses.
Offering rides to neighbors helps, she said: "We're just a tight-knit community. So, when we know somebody who needs something, we work it out."
Rev. Rendell Torres, pastor of St. Ann's parish in Fort Ann and Our Lady of Hope in Whitehall, both in Washington County, believes that parishioners quietly help one another.
"Not a lot of people tell me about it," he said. "When we do have a significant snowfall, it can be hard [for people] to get out of their long driveways."
Can't get there
He has panicked a little this winter while traveling between the two churches, which are about 12 miles apart, to celebrate 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Masses. He said Route 4 is not always fully plowed.
Patti Abbott, Our Lady of Hope's parish secretary and administrator of religious education and youth ministry, added that parishioners in the far reaches of parish boundaries "often choose to stay home when the weather is bad" and watch a televised Mass.
"It's hard, because you want everyone to be at Mass every week," she said. "But when my parents were alive and it was snowing and icy, the last thing I wanted them to do was fall and break a bone."
Mrs. Abbott said the two parishes' custodian took on the job of snow removal this year.
Our Lady of the Snow parish in Grafton/Berlin, in Rensselaer County, has struggled to pay the company that plows both its church properties. When the snowfall reaches more than six inches, the worker has to plow twice.
"I've never seen so much snow" as what fell this winter, said Deacon Tom Nash, the parish life director, who does some of the removal himself with his pickup truck. "The biggest challenge here is the long winter. Nobody really lives near church. A lot of it is dirt roads near Route 2."
Often, roads get cleared from Brunswick to Grafton, but not south between Grafton and Berlin.
Numbers game
About 35 or 40 Mass-goers are a lot for Berlin this time of year; Grafton is lucky to get 60 or 70 per liturgy. The communities get about 125 Mass-goers in good weather. Deacon Nash said the parish employs a phone tree to arrange rides if it's snowing heavily on a weekend.
Our Lady of the Snow's sacramental minister, Rev. Kenneth Gregory, lives about 35 miles away in Rensselaer; there were at least two weekends this winter when snow blocked his driveway and the parish resorted to a communion service in the absence of a priest.
"We try to stay ahead with consecrated [hosts] just for that reason," Deacon Nash said.
But "people out here are pretty hardy," he said. "They know how to get around it, but it certainly affects attendance."[[In-content Ad]]
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