A healthy, vibrant parish is full of love

Tom Cronin is the Director of Evangelization & Strategic Planning in the Diocese of Albany. Contact Tom with any questions about boosting evangelization efforts at your parish at [email protected] or by visiting www.rcda.org/evangelization. Follow me on Instagram: tom_rcda.

The last column of “Everyday Evangelization” provided an overview of evangelization and the call to be more proactive in sharing the love and joy of knowing Jesus with others. 

Before we dive into exploring what makes healthier and more vibrant parishes, let us first cover two things. The first is to differentiate between a Church, a church and a parish. Church with an uppercase “C” references our universal church as a community of the faithful that belongs to God — one holy, catholic and apostolic Church as stated in the Nicene Creed. Lowercase “c” church is the structure or building in which we gather for worship. A parish is the greater community of all the people who reside in the boundaries of that geographic region. Bishop Scharfenberger beautifully describes a parish as a “family of families.” The parish represents all the people in that piece of the vineyard. 

Secondly, what is our purpose? We are commanded through Matthew 28:19 to “Go out and make disciples of all nations.” This is not to go out and proselytize, but to live our faith in the most authentic and impactful way. It is to share the love and joy of Jesus with everyone we encounter so others may recognize the void in their hearts of not knowing Him. Following the two greatest commandments are central to this mission — we must love God and love our neighbor.

Healthy and vibrant parishes provide the tools and resources to foster the deepest and most intimate relationship with God. The sacraments are at the heart of our spiritual formation, most especially the Eucharist. To unite and worship our triune God in solidarity as brothers and sisters in Christ and boldly take that love out into the world is critical. Why have our faith communities become so inwardly focused? Probably because we love our comfort. We prefer to worship in the building we want, at the time we want, and even with the priest we prefer. 

Forgive me if this is judgmental, but imagine if we loved Jesus with the same zeal with which we love our comfort. Following Christ was not meant to be comfortable.

Father Bob Longobucco, our Vicar General, has used the parable of the fig tree as an example for parishes that are struggling. This is a wonderful visual that if a parish is not bearing the fruit it should, the community needs to better fertilize, water and till the soil for it to bear more fruit. We are at a critical point in time in which business as usual is not sustainable. We are managing decline and need to be better stewards of our limited resources. Sadly, some parishes are in such challenging circumstances that financial sustainability may not allow them more time to fertilize and nurture the fig tree.

Developing healthier and more vibrant parishes involves many moving parts, but by far the most critical component is love. Love that is bold, unconditional and outwardly focused. Our Church does not exist to be self-serving, inwardly focused, and cater to the “regulars” that only attend the celebration of the liturgy. The faithful must unite regardless of the building or the name on the building in which we worship. History and cultures run deep, but worldly things like crosstown rivalries or differences between neighboring towns are contributing to our demise. The more we focus on the buildings, the more we jeopardize not fulfilling our mission to the best of our ability.

Healthy and vibrant parishes spiritually nourish the faithful through dynamic ministries. A sense of community and unity of Catholics must rise above parochialism. Imagine if we only had one church in each urban area rather than countless buildings that are only 30 percent filled for one hour per week. Imagine if we united as an army of Catholics from “name your town/city.”

Healthy and vibrant parishes are thriving, not struggling to survive. Healthy and vibrant parishes are investing more in the mission of our Church rather than deferred maintenance of our aging buildings. Please join me in prayer that we can overcome these challenges by accepting change and uniting at the foot of the cross as Catholics, not as registered parishioners of Saint “fill in the blank” Church. 

Thomas Cronin is the Director of Evangelization & Strategic Planning for the Diocese of Albany. Contact Tom with any questions about boosting evangelization efforts at your parish at [email protected] or by visiting www.rcda.org/evangelization. Follow me on Instagram: tom_rcda.