Detroit Mass Mob swells to 1,800 at Sweetest Heart of Mary Catholic Church

[rug]

8:05 PM, July 13, 2014
By Patricia Montemurri
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

For the third time in a row, the Detroit Mass Mob movement filled every seat and spilled out the doors Sunday at another historic, architecturally awe-inspiring Catholic church in Detroit.

An estimated 1,800 curious Catholics, many who attend suburban parishes, made for a standing-room-only crowd at Sweetest Heart of Mary Catholic Church at 4440 Russell, considered the largest Catholic church in the city.

“We didn’t expect almost 2,000,” said Jeff Stawasz, a Detroiter and Catholic school graduate who teamed up with other volunteers through social media to launch the movement. It’s designed to introduce suburban Catholics to historical, yet struggling, churches in Detroit.

The Mass Mob, said Stawasz, is “a wonderful marriage of history and Catholicism in the metro area and this is why we have the crowd today. There are so many ties to these old parishes, through parents and grandparents. These baby boomers want to go back to these heritage churches.”

http://www.freep.com/article/20140713/NEWS05/307130141/Detroit-Mass-Mob-Sweetest-Heart

[UrbScotty]

1. Great write-up on US Catholic regarding most recent Mass Mob

Since April, a group called Detroit Mass Mob has planned monthly flash mob-inspired events. Organizers spread word on Facebook and travel to a new church each month in an effort to increase attendance at regularly-scheduled Masses.

"People are upset that the churches are closing, but the simple reason is, people don't go," Thom Mann, an organizer with Detroit Mass Mob, told NPR. Mann said the group borrowed the concept from similar Mass mob efforts around the country. Detroit’s archbishop even welcomed the idea.

The group first mobbed St. Hyacinth parish in April with 150 participants. NPR reported that the group's September mob at St. Florian parish had 2,000 participants and brought in more than $19,000 in donations—about 10 times the amount donated at the parish’s typical Masses.

This week, over 1,500 participants showed up to the group's October mob at St. Francis D’Assisi Church. Check out a video of the mob here.

http://www.uscatholic.org/blog/201410/empty-pews-join-mob-29461#sthash.xPBd8avM.dpuf

Here's the Detroit Mass Mob website: http://www.detroitmassmob.com

[rustbeltvoice]

2. Rust Belt Catholicism

front page Sunday New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/us/at-forlorn-urban-churches-mass-gets-crowded-in-a-flash.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw&_r=0