The Symptoms

Walk into almost any parish today and you see it: numbers are dropping, the average age continues to rise, and while the recent influx of Catholic converts has made headlines, it doesn’t begin to touch the broader exodus from the faith over the past fifty years. These trends aren’t confined to one diocese or region — they mark the Church across the West.

On the ground, priests are overextended and weary, carrying burdens they were never meant to shoulder alone. Parish life leans heavily on the same small percentage of lay people who show up for everything, yet even these faithful few often lack the formation, support, and community needed to live vibrant lives of faith in the world. They burn out quietly, and no one replaces them.

The result is a weakened witness. Instead of radiating the joy of the Gospel, many parishes limp along on the bare minimum of programs and obligations. People on the outside don’t see a family alive with faith — they see a tired institution. These symptoms point to something far deeper than numbers or structures: they reveal a crisis of communion at the heart of the Church.