My Church seats about 600 people.At yesterday's 9:30 Sunday mass all seat were taken.In fact we had about 100 people as usual at today's weekly 9am mass followed by a Bible study group of 35.
All the parishes around Northern Virginia are immense, and typically standing room only. My parish added a 6PM mass, and now the 5:30 vigil, 11:00, and 6PM are beyond standing room only (as is the 1PM Spanish mass). People have to stand outside the doors of the church; you can only sit at the 7:30 AM, and stand in the church at the 9AM . And it seats several hundred. (1000?) St. Anthony's nearby, has to fill up the parking lot with worshippers, and that church seats 1600, one of the largest non-cathedral churches around.
When I went home a couple weeks ago, I was shocked to see the small, suburban parish I grew up in had become Standing Room Only.
Yes, the churches in Boston were largely empty, but the decay is not all around.