c. 1998 Religion News Service

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, N.J. _ Except for the 5-foot cross under her arm, the Rev. Doris Thompson looked like any other beachgoer strolling the sand at Point Pleasant Beach on a recent Sunday.

When she found a good spot, Thompson planted the wooden cross in the sand like a beach umbrella, unfolded her sand chair, shucked her shoes and began to preach to a congregation lounging on beach towels.

Welcome to church, shore style _ where pastors wear sunglasses, congregations pray for warm water and sunscreen is passed around with the collection plate.

“If you’re on vacation, you don’t want to take a lot of dress-up stuff. But if you see us on the beach and we’re all casual _ there are no pews and we’re all in a circle _ then it’s much more inviting and welcoming,” said Thompson, who leads the Central United Methodist Church’s 8 a.m. beach service in front of the Point Pleasant Beach boardwalk.

Every summer, as attendance thins in churches and synagogues at home, the faithful fill places of worship at the shore. From Jewish services on the beaches of Long Branch to relaxed dress codes at Catholic Masses on Long Beach Island and formal prayers for sunny weather in Surf City, New Jersey shore congregations do what they can to pull in vacationers and make religion relevant to summer living.”A good Catholic does not take a vacation from God, and God does not take a vacation from us,” said Trenton Bishop John Smith after saying Mass before an overflow crowd at St. Peter’s in Point Pleasant Beach last week.

The bishop, who is visiting churches throughout the four counties under his jurisdiction, which include two on the coast, said his seaside parishes are always most crowded in the summer. St. Peter’s sees its congregation nearly double as soon as the summer renters start arriving. Last week, the 440-seat chapel hosted about 600 who came out for Smith’s celebration of Mass.

Attendance at Congregation Agudath Achim, a Jewish temple in Bradley Beach, more than triples to 150 or more in the summer, said Rabbi Herbert M. Bialik.

Temple Beth Miriam of Long Branch doesn’t see such a dramatic spike in summer attendance. But, like many congregations along the shore, they take advantage of their proximity to the water by holding casual Sabbath services on the beach once a summer.

On Long Beach Island, there is no need to attract new members to the St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Brant Beach. Each summer, the Catholic population spikes dramatically enough for the parish to open three more chapels along the island. The number of services goes from six to 20 and many are standing-room only.

Most of the state’s churches do not keep attendance figures comparing summer and winter crowds, but many non-shore congregations expect fewer faces come summer, said Mike Hurley, a spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Newark.

“I don’t think (attendance) falls,” Hurley said. “I think it fluctuates depending on when people take their vacation.”

In a state where nearly 42 percent of the population is Catholic, churches will naturally be packed at the shore during the summer, even if some of the faithful forgo Mass during vacation, Hurley said.

However, not all faith groups see the summer boom.

The rules of modesty of the Islamic faith keep many Muslims away from the shore and bathing suits, according to Dasham Brookins, chief operating officer for Kafala Community Services, an affiliate of the New Brunswick Islamic Center.

“Going to the beach is not anti-Islamic,” said Brookins. “But it’s a contradiction for many Muslims to vacation at the shore, because you would see men and women in bathing suits and that goes against the spirit of modesty.”

The Sunnah, the traditions of the earliest Muslim community which are model for today’s faithful, instruct Muslim women to cover their bodies except for their hands, face and feet. Muslim men are to have everything from their naval to their knee covered, Brookins said.

Those Muslims who do go to the shore enjoy the beach during the off-peak hours when few people are around, Brookins said. “We’ll pray at the dawn prayer and then head to the shore, and no one is there at 5 a.m.,” Brookins said. “We wear suits that cover what’s supposed to be covered and wade in the water. But as soon as the beach starts to get crowded, we leave.”

In Surf City last week, the Rev. Francis DiSpigno said he keeps in mind his audience is on vacation when preaching before the standing-room only crowd at St. Thomas of Villanova Church. Less than a block from the beach, DiSpigno led the congregation in prayers for the poor, the sick and the banishment of the jellyfish to Long Island.

The sandal-wearing Franciscan said he knows the “shorts and flip-flop crowd” is made up of weekly renters. Their biggest worry is the weather. “There is a levity, a relaxed atmosphere,” he said. “They’re on vacation.”

In Bay Head, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church’s beach service started 25 years ago with six people gathering next to the water for a service. Now, at the height of the summer, the crowd swells to 200.

“I find it relaxing … to be out in God’s world,” said Carol Porter of Point Pleasant.

Worshipping outdoors is also not without its problems.

One week, the wind played havoc with the sound system in Bay Head. The week before that, the humidity was unbearable and eight dolphins just offshore got more attention than the Rev. Diana Smith’s sermon. Every once in a while, an uninvited guest wandered by.

“We once had a Satan worshipper come up behind out pastor and whisper obscenities,” said Tyler Sherman of Bay Head, a lay speaker. “We prayed for him.”

But the beach service also draws people into religion. Over the years, several people who stopped to listen, came back the next week and officially joined the church by winter, Sherman said.

“The beach is just a great outreach,” he said.

MJP END RNS