15 SUGGESTIONS FOR REVITALIZING THE SACRAMENT OF CONFESSION LOCALLY

We often hear that the sacrament of confession is dead.  I don’t buy it.  I think it is like a local restaurant that I like that has inconvenient hours and even when I make it a point of going to their horrible hours it is closed on that particular day or the owners are on vacation and have a sign tacked to the door.  I show up with friends only to be turned away.  After a while it falls off of my radar screen and I don’t even think to go until some bazar thing happens like finding myself in front of the store just when I happen to be hungry.  Thank goodness the wait staff is good and they don’t run out of my choice (too often.)  How they stay open I don’t know.  Likewise it is amazing that the sacrament of confession is still in use for these same reasons!  There must be something about it that it still survives at all!  We’ve done just about everything we can do to kill yet it remains more resilient than Godzilla.  

I don’t claim to have all of the answers, but here are 15 suggestions on how (in the long term) to take the sacrament from being Wall Flower at the dance (there but not very popular) to at least being the punch bowl attendant (still not overly popular, but most will at least stop by when they are thirsty.)

1)  If you are in an area with parishes in relatively easy driving distance, don’t have confessions at the exact same time as everybody else.  If someone can’t make it to one, they can’t make it to any of them.

1. Have more than one scheduled opportunity to go to confession and at different times of the day.  Once again, if someone can’t make your Tuesday night confessions because of work, they will never have the opportunity.  Or if they work nights and you only have night time confessions . . . 
2. Don’t rely on “confessions by appointment.”  I didn’t even go to see my doctor when I thought I was having a stroke because it seemed like such a bother.  (I know, I know.)  And this is much more important.  “By appointment” is largely for trauma cases, the super comfortable person, and 5th steps.
3. When starting a new confessions time, it takes months of getting the word out for people to really start taking advantage of it.  It has to enter their consciousness.  That takes a while.  Commit for at least half of a year (part of it in a penitential season) before deciding if it is a poor time to have the sacrament.
4. Do NOT cancel confessions.  Think of the poor soul hanging on the faith by their fingernails that FINALLY worked up the nerve to go to confession only to show up and find out that there are no confessions that day for some mysterious reason.  But if there are times that you must cancel, make sure that it is well announced and advertised and that there is a sign on the door explaining the extraordinary circumstances.
5. Nothing will work if you don’t preach it.  There are great events that I want to attend in my own area of West Akron - BIG ONES - and I miss them because they don’t cross my mind.  I get on with life and the next thing I know I’ve missed them for another year.  You don’t have to beat people over the head with sin - but we do need reminding.
6. Advertise.  Make sure that the bulletin, the parish signs and the web site all list confession times clearly and that the information is accurate.
7. Pray for those who would benefit from going to confession.  Ask their guardian angels to get them there.
8. Even if you are a lion in the pulpit, be encouraging and merciful in the confessional.  Your reputation will proceed you.
9. The biggest and most common complaints that I hear in the confessional are:  The priest talks too much, the priest didn’t let me finish, the priest told me I don’t need confession for one reason or another (my sins weren’t big enough).  I’m sure there are grave deficiencies in my methods that this or that person does not appreciate.  That’s why it’s good to have other priests available when possible.  
10. Find ways to stop someone who is at confession more for counseling than confession.  Can you imagine showing up early for confessions that only lasts for a half an hour and the person two people in front of you being in there for 20 minutes?  Sometimes I will say to such a person, “This sounds like it needs attention outside of the sacrament.  Let’s continue this conversation later in the rectory.”
    
11. Do what you can to make confession obvious and welcoming. Make the church look open.  (Have the lights on.)  Have confessions in an obvious place (not a side room that people should just know to go to.)  Make it as private (sound proof) as possible.  
12. Let people know that if they have not been to confession in a long time and are afraid that they forget how to go or don’t remember prayers that you will talk them through it.  It will be just fine.  In this case getting to confession is more important than remembering how to do it exactly correctly.
13. Let people know where they can find an examination of conscience.  (There are oodles of them on line for various persons and vocations.)
14. Advertise the times of surrounding parishes (if there are any close) for people to go to if they are ashamed/embarrassed/uncomfortable/just-plain-not-of-a-mind to go to their parish priests.
15. When handling large groups of confessions such as for a school, do not rely all the time on the rite for group confessions.  From the start, people need to learn how to and be comfortable with going to confession on their own.  
    

Yes it’s a pain.  Yes, it’s time consuming.  Yes, there are more and more things required of priests.  Yes, it can be trying sitting in the box on a day that is slow on confessions.  But really there are few things more important than for the father of a congregation to be with his people when they need healing.  

IF YOU SEE A HOLE - DISCERN IF YOU CAN FILL IT

“Parishes need to do more in order to attract and keep today’s people.”  The answer is always more programs and more ministries.  There is some truth to this and so many parishes have a full week’s worth of activities and special events to make sure that people are involved.

The danger of this is that many people mean that the priest and (usually his staff of about 3 full time paid people) are supposed to put all these things on.  Parishes become like your club membership, one “joins” in order to enjoy all the benefits offered.  But no matter how talented the staff may be, they can only do so much.

If you agree that your parish should do “more,”  maybe you are being called to do something about it.  It takes two of course.  In many cases a pastor must at least allow it to take place especially if you need space and a bulletin announcement.  But supposing that is there, if you see a hole, offer to fill it.

I’ve been heartened by the number of lay run ministries in our area some associated directly with a parish and some not.  Things that with our staffs and budgets we could never have enough to do.  West Side Catholic Couples incorporates a number of people from 5 parishes and they just put on a retreat for 600 people.  The ITE project is going strong.  (See more HERE.)  Theology on Tap Akron and Theology on the Rocks, The Young Adult Book Group, Bible Studies, Social Justice, and a number of other groups thrive in the Akron area with different levels of lay leadership and connections to parishes.  

The fact is, we are a mission people sent out from Mass to do Catholic, Christian stuff.  The rising movement of lay ministry is way to see to it that our parishes are as lively as they can be while not depending on “someone official” to bear the whole of the burden.

A PICKLE IN THE MARASCHINO CHERRY JAR

What does one do with parishioners who really don’t fit in?

I was getting out of the shower in the morning and my phone rang.  Not a good sign.  Somebody is sick or something big is broken.  The call came from the church.  A visitor was there who was demanding to read (even though we had someone already), refused to leave the sacristy, and was calling out quite loudly.

When I arrived we were able to ease our way outside to talk.  She was on a mission that God sent her on and everybody that was in her way was possessed (particularly me.)  There was no progress or grounds on which we could meet talking so I just started praying Hail Marys out loud.  That seemed to defuse the situation after a while and then it was possible to invite her in to attend Mass. 

Then the police showed up in droves.  They were very kind and responsive and understood the situation and that any further action might just escalate things again.  So they promised to stay in our area for a little while just to make sure nothing happened again after Mass.  (Thank you SO much!)

So our houses of God are to be open to all of God’s children.  What do you do when one of His children can’t get along with others?  Volunteers are not trained to help extraordinary persons of every stripe though we try to train as much as possible.  Someone can say that everyone should just get over it and learn to live different people around us and I am an advocate for this most of the time.  But I also understand people who are afraid for their children or for themselves.  Imagine you are alone in the church cleaning or decorating or practicing . . . 

It would be easiest if A) such person stayed on their meds or B) we just kept them out legally.  But we have no right to demand A and spiritually does B work?  And thank goodness God does not give up on me when I am not easy.  It would be nice to spend all the time needed to care for such a person but time is limited when you have a church full of people and a Mass to start, or a couple waiting for you in the rectory, or, or, or . . . 

Fortunately this morning there was time and we had what was needed to deescalate the situation and all was fine.  What is the policy in your parish?  What do you do when you have a pickle in the Maraschino cherry jar?

COFFEE, FRONT PORCHES, AND CHURCH WHISPERS

If you would have asked my Mom, the breakdown of everything is directly attributable to the loss of real front porches on houses and that we drive everywhere.  People do not walk as much in their neighborhood because now they zip around in their cars.  And even if they did walk, nobody is sitting out on their front porch that no longer exist to offer a howdy do and hand on the latest neighborhood talk.

When I was growing up (Oh, here we go - I am getting old) everybody in my neighborhood went to the same parish, worked in the same places, belonged to the same social clubs, hung out in the same parks, bowling alleys and like places.  So when you went to Mass, you didn’t need a gathering space to gab and have coffee, you did that all the rest of the week - sometimes to the point of desiring to get to Mass to not have to do that anymore.  Now we don’t see each other as much (or so it seems to me) and so when we get to Mass, there is a constant hum of chatter - not in praise to God, but about what Mable did last week and how the kids are and can you believe the price of bananas.

Older churches (like St. Sebastian) have gathering spaces about the size of a broom closet.  More modern spaces (St. Hilary) have gather spaces that rival the size of the church building in which you could throw an inaugural ball (or at least a rocking donut Sunday.)  It seems the reality is, that church is now also a social center - no longer just the spiritual center of a community, but the all encompassing source of the Christian Catholic community itself.  

Many of our Protestant brothers and sisters have this idea down in spades.  Often drawing from a huge geographical area, they know they must create a community when they have their congregants.  Catholics parishes (particularly in this area) have boundaries.  Our draw is much smaller (in theory.)  We are the parish of the neighborhood or town.  But now we feel we have to be the social center also which has it’s upside and its downside.

If we want to keep people, particularly younger people, we have to provide opportunities to form community in a way that was once (again in my limited experience) almost automatic.  Yesterday we had an example of this which is very popular in many places: we had Theology on Tap, Akron, an event and place for persons (primary in their 20s and 30s) to come and socialize and hear a great Catholic talk (thank you Mr. Brownfield!)  I’ve heard some criticism about meeting in a bar but please remember that my parish, in the 40’s, ran its own bar with the preaching from the pulpit, “Remember, if you are going to drink, drink at your parish!”

Anyway, here are some shots from our modern front porch:

Ladies and gentlemen, our MC for the evening:  Rocco

Lots more space and parking here!

 Our speaker Mr. Brownfield:

And making a surprise appearance, the newly ordained Fr. Anthony Simone, parochial vicar at St. Sebastian.

For more information about Theology on Tap, Akron go HERE.  Next event: July 12th

For more information about Theology on the Rocks go HERE.  Next event: June 19th

WHEN GOOD ENOUGH ISN'T

It may be that many Parishes are struggling in the Catholic triangle, the three points roughly being Chicago, Boston, and New York where, at one time, 50% of American Catholics once lived.  As the Catholic population evens out across the map, the triangle looks as if the Catholic Church is failing while in other parts of the nation they cannot build churches and parking lots quickly enough.  Is there anything good to come from this for triangle Catholics?

There is at least this: survival of the fittest.  “If you don’t like it here, go to the next parish over,” is no longer a safe attitude to have because people can and will do just that - and possibly they will not stay within the Catholic family of churches!  It is not enough to open our doors anymore and say, “Okay Catholics, come on in!”  The ethnic fellowship, community pressure, our collective conscience will not get us into a pew.  You better have your Church act together.

That does not mean we should give in to the customer service mentality that plagues the American Church experience and mindset.  But it is similarly unconscionable to do things just adequately or minimally either.  If we want serious Catholics, we need to be a Church serious about being Catholic.

The same goes for our schools.  There is a misconception out there that when we were in the days of the nuns, everything was perfect.  They weren’t.  (Don’t get me wrong, I would jump on the bandwagon in a moment of orders reignited in our diocese and started staffing our schools.)  Ask a priest who had gone through the golden era of packed schools with our valiant nuns making up all or most of the faculty.  There were still terrible teachers and difficult principals.  The difference was that people were much more likely to be desperate to have their kid in a Catholic school.  If you kid didn’t make the cut, there were only so many seats and if you were lucky you MIGHT get in to the next parish over.  The balance of power was much more in the hands of the school.

Not so today.  Our schools now compete against each other for a smaller group of students.  It is interesting the people call our school now and ask, “If I send my kid to your school, what will you give us?”  We get LOTS of those.  (We do not do that type of funding for the general public.)

This means being a typical Catholic school in the Catholic Triangle is not enough.  Being a good Catholic school is not enough.  In some places, being a great Catholic school is not enough.  So in this and in all things that we do (evangelization for example) we must keep waking up and realizing, “Today, we must be better.”

THINGS THAT DON'T NECESSARILY HAVE TO BE

This is the story of two mansions in neighboring cities.  Both are nationally acclaimed, both beautiful, both deeply tied to the community’s history and identity.

One still exists.

One has gone met the kiss of the recking ball.

The first is Stan Hywet Hall in Akron.  It is a major generator of traffic to West Akron both to see the mansion and to attend one of the events often held there.

The other is the O. C. Barber mansion in Barberton, Ohio.  It was torn down in order to make way for a Zayer’s store.  Do you remember Zayer’s?  Nobody does.

I remember my mother telling me that one day she was walking in downtown Barberton and man in a cowboy hat came out of the bank (also no longer in existence) when a strong wind blew papers out his hand.  My mother trapped the bolting paper under her foot.  The city cowboy gentleman lassoed his errant document and said, “Good work little lady!  You just saved the future of Barberton!”  As it turns out, it was (supposedly) the deed to the Barber mansion.  “If I had known what it was I would have let it fly away,” Mom used to say with a twinge of sadness.

Neither mansion has to exist.  Although I do realize that the history here is complicated, what comes down to is leadership and the interest of the community.  No mysterious force is going to come to the rescue.  If the will of the community is not as strong as the forces of decay or other interests, it will pass the way of history.

It is much the same with a Catholic parish.  It does not have to exist - at least the building does not have to exist.  Epic ecclesial edifices in Cleveland (long before the current closings) have ceased to exist.  St. Agnes on Cleveland’s east side is one of these casualties.  The long and short of the story is that Catholics moved away and now all that is left is a tower.  Once a proud, thriving parish, now the tower stands as a memorial to itself.  Societal pressures and preferences outweighed the desire to keep neighborhood and parish a thriving Catholic area.

Conversely there are other parishes that were closed more recently and the reason was perceived lack of persons, funds, and vitality.  But for some of them, the desire to keep them open was strong and the parishes re-opened.  (This is not an evaluation of either decision, just a demonstration.)

It is not enough to “tsk” the pothole in the parish parking lot, or the leaking roof, or think someone should do something about the poor sound system.  There is no mysterious force out there that is going to come to rescue.  Despite the illusion that people have that the Church is wealthy beyond measure, there is no magic pot of money anywhere waiting to save a beautiful piece of architecture.  The only secret source of resources is in the generosity of the people who love their parish and in the end it is largely up to them if their parish building is going to be a Stan Hywet or an O. C. Barber mansion.

YOU CAN PLEASE ALL OF THE PEOPLE SOME OF THE TIME . . .

Not too long ago we went from permanent pastorates to term limits in our diocese.  I was on the committee.  One of the points I bought up was that the reason there are two methods (you may have one or the other in a diocese, not one for some and one for others) is that they both come with their own set of problems.  Neither is particularly better than the other.  With one there is a particular set of difficulties and advantages and likewise with the other.  So today we have what we have and while it cleared up a lot of difficulties in the diocese, we are faced with a whole new set.

Many people would like to see a more Protestant form of choosing a pastor: that of a board at any given parish hiring and firing the priest.  Once again, that would mean some great advantages and some disadvantages.  One of the (depending on who you are this is either a dis or an advantage) is this: because a pastor does not have to worry about teaching and preaching about something that pleases a board, he may be more daring.  If a parish has a large percentage of euthanasia proponents, for example, he need not fear for his livelihood preaching that older Americans are people with dignity and rights too and should be treated as such..

Leading a parish, in some ways, is not much different than being the mayor of a town.  There are decisions that you make that you know will leave 10% ecstatic, 10% furious, and most the rest just fine.  Sometimes you weigh popular demand, sometimes you weigh Church teaching, sometimes you guess and you try to remember that the worst thing is not that someone might be angry because if they are angry, they are still invested.

It is an imperfect world and all of our human institutions, even those inspired by God Himself, are imperfect and are incapable of pleasing everybody so you try not to take it seriously when you’ve not pleased everyone.

ANYONE WANT TO CROWD SOURCE FREE TUITION?

So I read another article about how Catholic educations is becoming something only for the rich, which is, of course, sad.  The part that gets my goat is that there is truth to this statement.  It was the case, at one time, when grade school education was free but times have changed.  

On my day away from the parish I took a (very long) walk to ponder this problem.  Is there any way to manage our resources or to find different ways of funding in order to run our schools so that it could at least be less expensive (if not free.)  Somehow that bottom line always came down to - well - the bottom line - having to find a (large) pot of money someplace.

The major cost factors in runnings a school begin with salaries and benefits followed by technology.  Remember that staff means more than teachers.  It takes a whole team to run a school.  Then there is building maintenance (boilers, roofs, windows,) and gas and electricity bills, snow plowing, and page after page of incidentals such as state mandated inspections for which we must pay a fee.

Our income includes the staff themselves.  They believe in the mission of Catholic schools and so are willing to work for less than their peers in public schools.  On top of that, they often pay for things for their classrooms out of their own pockets.  Tuition is another important source.  It does not come close to covering everything that it costs to teach a child but covers the larger portion.  It should be noted that these parents first pay for a public school system through their taxes that their child will not be attending and then pay again to attend Catholic school.  Wow.

Another huge chunk is a subsidy from the parish collection plate.  The diocese asks us to shoot for no more than about 20% of the collection go toward operating the school.  Some parishes are much higher, a few lower.  There are some state services that follow children to the school, some private scholarships and donations, and the fund raising.  Tons and tons of fundraising.

I did a Google search for how to cut tuition at your school and found surprisingly little.  I suppose that if there were a magic bullet, everyone would be doing it already.  One suggestion was to charge per family and not per child.  I don’t know how well that would go over.  I envision angry letters and phone calls from single child families while simultaneously being hailed greatest pastor ever from parents with six kids.

The only places where education was free or greatly reduced was in places that the diocese took on a stewardship role and raised money as a diocese.  I suppose that could be done on a parish level but with a school budget well over a million dollars that would be a great challenge.

Any grand ideas out there?

Or better yet - any with a few million I could have to offset tuition at my school?  That would just be awesome. 

TEN THINGS YOUR PARISH CAN DO TO BE ART FRIENDLY

Artists form our perceptions of ourselves.  For example, much of what we believe about the Old West is entirely from artists: writers, painters, movie producers, sculptures, musicians, and the like.  Within this example, take a moment to think over what you perceive as the role of guns in the Old West.  Do you picture cowboys strolling down the boardwalk of an old town, when, all of a sudden, bandits come riding in shooting wildly in the air while women and children clear out of the street.  Suddenly, everybody has their guns out a la the O K corral.  

Nope.  That aint the way it was.

People did not carry their guns around like that.  They were heavy, expensive, and dangerous.  But thanks to the arts this is many people’s perception.

As you have read here before ad naseum, the Church had largely given up her role as Patroness of the Arts, which means we have also given up a lot of influence of how we perceive ourselves.  “He who pays the fiddler calls the tune.”  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame hires artists to do all kinds of stuff while the local parish is ordering its “art” out of a catalogue so that it can have a print of painting just like Saint Alsobland down the street.

What can your parish do to start changing the tide?  Here are some ideas:

 1. What do already to that participates in the art scene?  Most likely you have music!  Make your music program the best that you can.  It doesn’t have to be The Best, just the best that you can muster.  Invest in music.  If you can, hire qualified and trained musicians.  Encourage quality.  

2. Commission artists for your desired works of art.  Let is say that you want a picture of St. Pope John Paul II.  You could go on line and order a print of a painting and hang it on your wall.  People in the parish will be glad to see it but nobody is going to come from anywhere to be inspired by it.  They more likely will say, “Oh yeah, we’ve got one of those in our parish.”  Make no mistake:  commissioning art can be dangerous!  But better that some people take a risk of finding themselves with the next version of Michael Angelo’s David than have twenty five plastic Davids scattered throughout the diocese.

3. Have parish bus trips to see quality concerts, plays, and museum displays.

4. Sponsor a play to come to your parish.  There are many semi-affordable one man plays about saints and such.

5. Make it a general policy to hire musicians for parish events rather than DJs.

6. Consider having a concert or even a concert series sponsored by the parish.

7. If you have a room that often goes unused, consider allowing a community choir or orchestra to be in residence.

8. Start a gardening club that grows a cutting garden to make arrangements for the sanctuary during the summer months.

9. Start programs that offer classes in the arts.  This way you employ artists, train artists, and expose artists to their craft in a Christian atmosphere.  Make sure your school art program is more than an arts and crafts project recreation time.

10. Commission a song for the parish.

Don’t be tempted to think, “Oh, we are such a small parish with limited resources.  What impact could we really make?”  Rubbish.  When I think of the hundreds of parishes in my own diocese I wonder what would happen if all of them did just one thing from the list above!  What an incredible difference it would make to the fabric of northeast Ohio.

Make no mistake!  It is dangerous and expensive!  It requires risk, careful planning, and prayer.  But the same things could be said about evangelization (of which this is a part.)  Only those who dare magnificently can expect magnificent rewards. 

Or we can just be safe.

FAITH R US

Does your parish remind you more of a gym or a hardware store?

 

I’m not talking about the architecture.  That’s another post.

 

How do you see the way your parish functions in your life?  Is it more like a gym, a place where you go to accomplish something and then leave and return to other activities?  Or is it more like a hardware store where you go to be equipped to do those activities that one who visits such a store might do?

 

If it is the first, then your parish is a service to you.  Like the drycleaners or the mechanic’s, you go to have a service performed.  If it is like the second, it is more like the travel agency or the recruiting office, where you go to be sent on to do something. 

 

If it is the first, you understand the relationship that is required of us as Christians with each other.  We are community.  God draws us into unity.  And so we come together to pray.

 

If it is the second, you also understand that there is involved here a relationship with God; a very intimate and involved one.  It is not like showing up at Grandma’s house in time for Sunday dinner and then leaving after dessert not to think of the lady again until your stomach growls the following Sunday.  Hopefully you think of her during the week, call, stop by, send a text.  You might perform some task for her such as mow her lawn or help figure out her taxes.  And as family there are many intangibles of hers that you carry on without even realizing it: you carry the family name, you have certain turns of phrases and bit of advice that you give from being steeped in the family, you may be inspired to do things that others don’t simply because grandma always said a good person did such things, and you prayed for her good at night.

 

Because that is what a (functional) family does.  And there (as Fr. K pointed out) is where the first question because a false one.  Your parish should remind you of neither business institution.  At its best it should remind you of family.  (How do you get a couple of thousand people to be family – center on Christ because people [I] can’t do it.)  And family is not something you do at a particular time, it is who you are and how you live.

A PARISH SCHOOL AT DISCOUNT PRICES

People bring me bulletins from other parishes.  I enjoy looking at what other places do for their publications.  One of the first things at which I look is their reporting of their collection.  Last week a bulletin was brought to me from St. John the Baptist Church in North Burlington, VT.  Apparently it is a very quaint and small parish.  The collection reported in the issue I received was $4,000.  I would have a heart attack and immediately try to sell off property if we only had a collection of that amount.  About 8 years ago it was estimated that this parish costs about $8,000 a day to keep rolling.  That $4,000 collection would have gotten us a little past lunch on Monday.

 

We are very fortunate to have a pre-school through 8^th grade parish school.  I am VERY glad for it.  But let me be clear: MOST Catholic parish elementary schools lose money.  Our school loses quite a bit of money.  These loses are made up from the collection basket and parishes do it willingly because we believe in Catholic education.  The Diocese of Cleveland sets soft guidelines that the parish subsidy of the school should not exceed 20% of the Sunday collection and many cross that line.  (We are under.)

 

Most families understand this.  But there are always a few (EVERY pastor talks about this) who volunteer no time, do not come to Mass at the parish, nor give anything extra but justify it by saying, “I give TONS of money to the parish through my tuition.”  The simple fact is that for most Catholic elementary schools, your tuition does not cover what it is costing the parish to educate your child.  The thousands you may be paying is a partial payment to the parish in what the actual costs are.  In many cases we are asking the least amount we can and still be able to keep the doors open.

 

Then there is the interesting situation in which persons send their child to one school but attend Mass at another parish.  It is a great thing that they are attending Mass, but they miss sight of the idea that it is the parish community of their child’s school that is helping pay to educate their child.  At least occasionally they should go to Mass and pray with the community that cares about their child so much that they are willing to donate extra funds toward his education. 

 

It is a great topic for pastors.  Nobody has the silver bullet to solve it.  How do you get people to Mass (which is the reason we have a school), how do you get people involved?  Unfortunately the ones who really listen are the ones who already pay their bills, give to the parish, volunteer, and worship with the community.  Especially in a struggling parish, if everyone did their part, tuition for everyone would stay lower.  That is the theory.

 

What would you do?

NO,NO, NO, NO, NO NO NO - WE WILL FACE THE SHARKNADO

Last night I watched the world premier of Sharknado Two; the Second One, unfortunately one of the best films of the summer.  The movie left off just as the clean up was about to begin.  The city is infested with man eating sharks (not enough room here to explain), injured people, and buildings left in rubble – not to mention the flooding.  Who is going to help clean all that up?

 

The Catholic Church.  We are so connected as a worldwide Church that we have the mechanisms in place to immediately step in and start bringing aid to those who need it.  Catholic hospitals will treat the patients.  Catholic social services, Catholic Charities, Catholic work groups would help.  Collections from Sunday Masses across the country/world would come streaming in.  Catholic services would be set up for those who need the sacraments.  The gates of Sharknadodom would not prevail against it.

 

Think of all the atheist societies that would come to help.  The Atheist General Hospital, the Atheist Charitable Society, money would stream in from collections at the Sunday morning atheist community gatherings and from collections taken up at the local Atheist Elementary Schools. 

 

I wonder if the local atheist meeting hall provides as much to a community as the local parish.  I think of all the things that this parish provides for this part of Akron.  Education, sports, concerts, lectures, arts, community support during times of death, crisis, or illness, retreats, camps, dances, cultural and entertainment events, hubs of information about and how to be involved in local, national, and worldwide concerns, clubs for persons of all ages, youth groups, gardening clubs, beautiful grounds and playgrounds used by the community, charitable organization that reach out to the parish boundaries, to the diocese, and to the world.  Permanent jobs are provided for a couple score of people in everything from teaching and arts to ministry and business offices.  Other recent jobs include roofers, plasterers, painters, organ construction, plumbers, heating and cooling professionals, landscapers, architects, construction workers, sign makers, carpet layers, and more.  A bit over three million dollars passes through this part of town as part of our budget annually.  It provides a voice for the neighborhood.  So much so that studies show that when a Catholic parish closes in a struggling neighborhood, the neighborhood goes into a steep and accelerated decline because a Catholic parish is so connected to other parishes, the diocese, and people outside of the immediate neighborhood it kept the neighborhood alive.  The parish also provides spaces for the community to rent for everything from wedding receptions to city meetings. 

 

AND ON TOP OF ALL THAT: providing sacramental healing, forgiveness of sins, adoption into the family of God, the reception of the Eucharist, receiving on the Holy Spirit, and uniting in matrimony.  All that in just a couple of acres. 

 

So beware sharks!

WILL THERE BE ANYTHING ELSE FOR YOU?

There are two ways in which a person can own a horse.  The first (the model imagined by seven year olds everywhere) is where you pay to have your horse boarded.  You come by, when you have the time, to ride, give a carrot, and pat it on the nose.  The other way to own a horse is to 1) own a farm and 2) you go out twice a day to feed the horse, give a bale of hay (which you loaded into the barn last fall) and muck the stall, give it its daily exercise, groom, clean its hoofs, give it its shot and pills, find caretakers when you want to be a way, call the vet, etc. etc. etc. . .

 

This is also a model for two types of churches.  The first, you pay your money like you would at a gym, things are taken care of for you (babysitting, youth group, senior club, Bible studies, and so forth) and you can make certain demands (I pay good money to come here and I expect . . .) with the threat of going next door next Sunday.  The other is to belong to a church where you are part of the mission.  If there isn’t a Bible Study, you go talk to the pastor and if he can’t do it, you start one yourself.  If there are no greeters at the door, ask if you can start greeting people.  Outreach is not the pastor’s and staff’s responsibility, but everyone’s. 

 

Catholic parishes are closer to the second model in both, but often we try to be the first model and that frequently fails.  That is not to say that a pastor cannot use great ideas from the first model, but they are employed closer to the second model.  It is the difference in mentality of running a service in the hospitality industry and running a good family home.  The first has many perks and a few responsibilities, the second has many responsibilities and a few privileges and perks.

 

“I came to serve, not be served,” is the call we follow.  It is funny how easy it is to fall into the wrong mindset (from both sides!)