Topic: Are you attending liturgical services less because of gas prices?

[Veronika]

The only thing I have really cut so far are play dates and park trips. Fortunately my husband gets free bus passes from work and now that the weather is nicer he can take the bus to work more often. Our church has really been hurt by a reduction in tithes over the last year so we have tried to cut some big expenses and give extra but on a single income with kids it isn't that much.

[bogdan]

I can tell you what has really been impacted financially is my tithing.  That has been cut by more than half.  Mostly due to the fact my husband has been out of work for 2 years.

I know what you mean. Hopefully Our Lord accepts gasoline as a sacrificial offering...

[orthonorm]

What % of folks live within 5 miles? And what percent within 20?

10ish from home. 6ish from work.

[orthonorm]

When you live where you work and where you have community these problems don't become as difficult. Unfortunately, this ain't most of America.

[orthonorm]

Is the The Holy Orthodox Church considering getting a couple of shuttle buses,so they can start busing the faithful in.....

I noticed everywhere i go Protestant Church buses ,van's, with all different types of names of there churches posted on the side.......

I want to see a Orthodox Church Bus that say's ,
Grace Filled St. Simeon Eastern Orthodox Church of the Full Gospel ........

YES !!!!!  I've wondered about that too.. Why do they have Vans and we dont ?

St. Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church "Full Gospel"

Love I T.

Learned this in AA: never go to a meeting alone.

I try not to attend any parish function alone. You actually get to know folks as well.

[TheodoraElizabeth3]

I'm 10 minutes from church and 20-25 minutes from work. Thing is, my parish pulls from a very wide area. Part of our area has no Orthodox parishes and part has no entirely English-speaking parishes within a reasonable drive. Some of our people are cutting back, but these are the folks with at least a 30 minute drive. They also are the ones with the least fuel efficient vehicles (large SUVs and large sedans)

I drive a fuel efficient compact car and a tank of gas can last me for two weeks.

I know Orthodox who are married to non-Orthodox Christians and are having big discussions over the gas budget, especially about the Orthodox going to church more than once a week.

[TheodoraElizabeth3]

About carpooling...

In my area, there are lots of special services during Lent, ones that are shared by different parishes - Sunday evening Vespers and the like. I know people who were specifically told by people that they could have a ride anytime. All they had to do was meet up with the person driving at church - maybe 15 minute drive. The people offered rides never took advantage of them, and then complained and complained they couldn't go to X service because it cost too much to drive.

I don't get people sometimes!

[katherine 2001]

We do have some parishioners that drive two hours (one way), and many who drive one hour (one way) to get to church.  By the way, they are not skipping other parishes to come to ours.  The entire state of Montana (which is huge) only has 4 Orthodox churches with priests (Billings, Bozeman, Butte, and Missoula).  People do have to travel long distances to even get to an Orthodox parish.  Until the Greek parish in Missoula got a priest, the Serbian priest in Butte was serving the entire Western part of the state and was serving the OCA mission in Helena, the Greek parish in Missoula, and starting a mission in Kalispell.  Look at a map to see the distances that he was covering in a month.  He still serves the OCA mission in Helena and the mission in Kalispell.  I thank God for the priests and the parishes we do have.