Well, that concludes my 10 weeks at the Danbury News-Times. It’s been an unbelievable experience. I didn’t know I could learn so much in one summer. My final project was an analysis of the six Catholic churches in Danbury and how they are faring. Using statistics from the Pew Research Center and the Diocese of Bridgeport, I found that the churches in Danbury that catered to Spanish or Portuguese speakers were seeing an increase in enrollment and attendance. The story can be viewed here. It was challenging to create a story based on so many numbers and statistics, but my editors Jean Dubail and Matt DeRienzo helped me sort through the chaos.

Here’s a snippet of the story:

DANBURY — The number of Americans who identify as Catholic has shrunk in recent years, and Connecticut leads the nation in that decline.

Danbury stands out in bucking that national and statewide trend, and the reason is immigration.

Figures supplied by the Diocese of Bridgeport show that St. Peter, Our Lady of Guadalupe and Immaculate Heart of Mary churches all showed increases in attendance at Mass from 2011 to 2015. All other churches in the 16-parish region in northern Fairfield County showed a decline in Mass attendance.

What these three churches have in common is that Mass is conducted not just in English, but also Spanish or Portuguese, or both.

In 2007, 23.9 percent of Americans identified as Catholic, according to a nationwide survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. By 2014, that share had fallen to 20.8 percent.

Connecticut showed the sharpest decline of the 50 states – 10 percent.

But at St Peter’s, which offers Mass in all three languages, average weekly attendance increased 27 percent — from 1,459 in 2011 to 1,854 in 2015 — by far the largest increase of any parish in the region.

“We are a very multicultural parish,” said Father Gregg Mecca, who conducts Mass in English. “We’re happy Catholics from around the world are comfortable here. Our future looks healthy and happy.”

I’ve been with the News Times for about a month now. I’ve had two stories on the front page, one about the bat cave and the other about a new breast milk depot in Danbury.

Other stories include a New Milford fundraiser, a New Fairfield baseball team, a retired Bethel teacher, and a Danbury 5K.

It’s truly been a rewarding and enlightening experience so far.

The last two weeks have been a blur. I started at the Danbury News Times as an intern. I was pleased to start reporting on my first day. I’ve written three stories so far. One was about a New Milford elementary school’s walking project, one about a new restaurant in New Milford called Zaragoza, and one about a New Milford bat cave. The story about Tory’s Cave was published on the front page of the Saturday June 4 edition of the News Times. The other two were published in the Friday June 3 edition of the New Milford Spectrum.

I can’t wait to see what the next two months will bring me.