How Christ The King Increased Mass Attendance By 64 Percent

CHICAGO, IL - Reports online indicate that mass attendance at Christ the King parish in North Beverly rose by 64 percent from October 2016 until October 2017. Reports in both the Catechist's Journey and Aleteia highlighted the efforts from Pastor Larry Sullivan in achieving such a sharp increase in mass participation.

Joe Paprocki, a Catechist's Journey blogger and CTK parish member, shared an email from Sullivan that outlines how he did it.

Sullivan's strategies included sending emails to all parishioners inviting them to celebrate the Eucharist, have a well-known parishioner give a short presentation on "What CTK Means to Me," holding a sports mass and pizza party and debut a new student choir.

"Each week offered anyone in the school a special prize if they had a picture taken with one of the priests at Sunday Mass: out-of-uniform pass or homework pass," Sullivan wrote. "On the last Sunday of October, if 75% of a particular classroom came to Mass, the classroom was given a treat and game time with Fr. Matt or me. If 90% of the class came to Mass, then the whole classroom got a pizza party."

Deacon Greg Kandra shared the local parish's efforts in Aleteia, an online Catholic news and information website.

Photo: Christ the King Church, via Patch archive / Tim Moran