Living stones will rebuild our Church

In the story of St. Francis of Assisi praying in the dilapidated San Damiano Chapel, from the crucifix on the wall, Jesus said, “Francis, go and rebuild my church which, as you see, is falling down.” St. Francis physically repaired the church building, but in time, he recognized that he was being called to share the faith of Christ with all, which, of course, is our mission as well.

Over the past few years, many parishes have been proactively investing funds into our aging infrastructure to make sure our churches are safe and well-maintained. Our churches not only provide a place to gather for worship, but beautiful churches inspire and can enhance the liturgical experience. As we stabilize the bricks and mortar of our buildings, our focus must also be on the living stones — the people and ministries in our Church. Remember, Jesus invested in people, not buildings.

We need to critically assess what is most important for the vitality of our Church. Our buildings do not make a parish, the people do. When we focus on the people, relationships blossom and parishes thrive.

Spiritual nourishment, bringing people closer to knowing God and subsequently salvation is what we are here to do. It’s time to focus more on evangelization initiatives in which we help people come to know Jesus, support families, engage with our youth, serve those in need, bring young people back to the Church, and invest in parish leadership development at each of our 126 parishes. Beautifully appointed empty buildings will serve no purpose other than to remind us of the glory days of old.

Physically rebuilding the church structure and making renovations, much like St. Francis’ initial reaction, provides an immediate sense of satisfaction and a tangible measure of success. I compare this immediate feedback to the quotas and metrics that I lived and breathed in my 23 years in the corporate world. At any point in time, we always knew exactly how we were pacing to a goal. On the other hand, sowing the seeds of our faith can take years and may never be known to the sower. Spreading the Joy of the Gospel and sharing our love for Christ with others is not easy to track, but there are ways to measure our actions which may very well be a topic for another day.

I pray that we take this as a call to action and opportunity to be more impactful by prioritizing mission over maintenance. Focus on relationships — love God and love others and everything else will fall into place.

Please contact me with any questions about boosting evangelization efforts at your parish at [email protected] or by visiting https://www.rcda.
org/evangelization. Follow me on Instagram: tom_rcda.