Is The Archdiocese Of Detroit Built For A Church That No Longer Exists?
(ANALYSIS) Sometimes the doom scrolling really does pay off. I hate to admit it, but flicking through thousands of social media posts a week is a way that I can find interesting stories to write about for Graphs about Religion.
And, that’s exactly what happened a few months ago. On my Google Discover feed, I see this headline, “Detroit Catholic archdiocese restructures as Mass attendance drops 40%.” It’s a story from the Detroit Free Press about the future of Catholicism in what was once one of the most thriving metropolitan areas in the United States. I read stories like this on a regular basis, by the way. I usually skim the article quickly and then move on to the next thing.
But not this time. I noticed a single line in the article that caught my eye,
“As part of the process, the Detroit archdiocese released information online in March about parish finances and attendance data in workbooks that provide a detailed look at the conditions of churches, showing how some are doing well with revenue while others struggle.”
Jackpot. It’s time to get to work.
The Archdiocese of Detroit has pulled together a really impressive website about the process that the Church is undertaking over the next couple of years. They have a relatively new Archbishop — Edward Weisenburger. He was installed as the leader of the Detroit archdiocese in March of 2025. My read of the situation is that he was primarily chosen to secure the organizational and financial future of the Archdiocese. That’s the goal of this discernment process.
The real treasure trove for me is a series of workbooks for the 224 parishes that exist in Eastern Michigan. They are organized across 15 different planning areas and they are posted for anyone to download on this page. The PDF files are awesome because they provide unprecedented access into what is happening at the parish level across hundreds of churches in Michigan.
You can read the rest of this post on Substack.
Ryan Burge is an assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, a pastor in the American Baptist Church and the co-founder and frequent contributor to Religion in Public, a forum for scholars of religion and politics to make their work accessible to a more general audience. His research focuses on the intersection of religiosity and political behavior, especially in the U.S. Follow him on X at @ryanburge.