PBS Spotlights the Buffalo Mass Mob

Last updated on: April 18, 2015 at 4:09 pm by Kate O'Hare

PBS Spotlights the Buffalo Mass Mob 2015-04-18T16:09:12-08:00 Kate O'Hare

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In Nov. 2013, the Buffalo Mass Mob began as an effort spearheaded by Buffalo, New York, resident Christopher Byrd to gather together Catholics to fill the pews at a designated historic church for a particular Mass. The goal was not only fellowship but to bring attention and new life to beautiful churches that were losing parishioners because of ethnic and demographic shifts.

After an AP story about the group ran in Feb. 2014, interest piqued. I wrote about it a few days later for Breitbart.com, and did an email interview with Byrd, who said:

It gives members a chance to experience a church and worship in places that are still used as they were 100-150 years ago. It means a lot to help connect people with them. These churches were built by very humble people, faithful people and people with little money. They built these places as a testament to their faith. These churches built by our ancestors were their gift to Buffalo.

The hope here is to put these churches back on the radar screen of people. Buffalo has these incredible houses of worship. At our first two Mass Mobs, a number of people had always wanted to reconnect to these churches. The Mob was the catalyst for them to do it. We want to stroke home the idea that these incredible churches need to be supported. Without support, they will close. If it inspires people to come more–mission accomplished.

Buffalo Mass Mob has continued, with members voting online to choose the next church to visit. The phenomenon has spread, which I noted in an April 2014 story, again for Breitbart.com, including such cities as New Orleans, New York, Detroit, Philadelphia, Cleveland and St. Louis.

San Francisco Catholics are also getting in the concept for a particular reason. They’re planning a Mass Mob at Star of the Sea Catholic Church, for the Vigil on Saturday, April 25, to show support for embattled Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who’s under assault from prominent Bay Area Catholic dissidents for insisting that Catholic schools teach Catholic values (I know, crazy, right?).

Now, PBS’ “Religion and Ethics Newsweekly” is profiling the Buffalo Mass Mob on its episode airing Sunday, April 19, on many PBS stations (check local listings in your area).

On the Mass Mob Website, the organizers said:

We continue to be amazed and humbled by all the press and support Buffalo Mass Mob receives.

If the show isn’t running in your area, click here to watch it online and read a transcript. Here’s how it begins:

KIM LAWTON, correspondent: This is Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Buffalo, New York. Built for German and Irish immigrants in the 1920s, it was once the vibrant center of its working class neighborhood. These days, on an average Sunday, only about 100 people attend morning mass. But, today, Blessed Trinity was “mass mobbed.” Almost 650 people showed up.

LAWTON: The church Mass Mob Movement began in Buffalo, inspired by the cultural fad of so-called flash mobs, where groups of people, organized through social media, show up at public places for seemingly spontaneous displays. Lay Catholic Christopher Byrd is a co-founder of Buffalo Mass Mob. He says as he watched variations of flash mobs, he realized the idea could be used to help churches in his city.

CHRISTOPHER BYRD (Buffalo Mass Mob): We have these glorious, old, historic churches that sit inside of the city and a lot of our immigrant neighborhoods. They’ve kind of fallen off the radar screen over the years and the idea to bring a large group of people here is, it raises awareness. The church, these churches that we attend get a lot of publicity leading up to the Mass Mobs and it fills the church.

Image: Courtesy Buffalo Mass Mob

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