DETROIT — Imagine calling a Sunday Mass and everyone shows up.
That’s the challenge that St. Joseph Catholic Church in Detroit faced Sunday, when hundreds of visitors showed up for services at the 141-year-old house of worship near Eastern Market.
The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News say that Sunday’s attendance was about 900, compared with the typical 100.
The flood of visitors is part of the Detroit Mass Mob movement, which is modeled on a similar volunteer effort in Buffalo, New York.
Organizer Thom Mann says the goal is to highlight Detroit’s historic churches, where many people have longstanding family ties.
The 1.3 million-member Archdiocese of Detroit has been closing urban church in response to declining attendance by increasingly suburban Catholics.
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