While the public eye is focused on the troubles of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia - which announced Friday that it would close four high schools, and shutter or merge 44 elementary schools - the struggles of St. James Episcopal and Leiper Presbyterian are illustrative of the demographic trends that likewise have battered mainline Protestant congregations.
"Across the board, it's increasingly tough sledding," said David Roozen, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, which studies trends in faith life.
The congregations often face dwindling membership and aging buildings. Finances are shrinking, no thanks to the floundering economy, and that hinders the offering of programming that can attract young families, Roozen said.
Over the last five years, six churches in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, and five in the Presbytery of Philadelphia (Presbyterian Church USA), have closed or merged. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has had three mergers and six closings. Parishes in the Philadelphia Archdiocese have declined from 302 in 1990 to 266.
For St. James, the alarm bells began sounding three years ago.
The church of 75 families had to fix its boiler system and make other repairs to its 102-year-old stone building.
The congregation had lost members, who took their tithes with them. Those who remained were not able to give as much as they once did, said Dottie Paullin, the church's senior warden.
Eventually, St. James could not pay its rector. It had bills of $12,000 - and $110 in the bank.
At Leiper Presbyterian, part of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, the problems were more about shifting geographic patterns than money, said the Rev. William Caraher, pastor since 2002.
