by Father Frank DeSiano, CSP
March 9, 2015

We think of our parishes as “ready-made.” The do what they do – sacraments and religious education – and parishioners just go there to benefit from these services.

But parishes certainly are not “ready-made.” They have to be formed and – for Catholic parishes in particular – they need a strong dose of mission if they are going to begin to accomplish their tasks.

Just think about the numbers: 60 percent of most Catholics do not regularly attend Church. In other words, six out of 10 Catholics go to Mass only a few times a year or not at all. This means that even our best parishes are reaching only 40 percent of Catholics on a regular basis, leaving aside all the seekers and non-connected people whom we should be reaching. So parishes need to ask themselves one important question this Lent: How is Jesus called our parish to conversion, to change, to greater expressions of discipleship.

Unfortunately we have developed, in the United States, an “institutional” notion of parish. Parishes provide services and people give money in return. If the money they give can pay for the services, then a parish is considered a success. Pretty low bar, I’d say. Liturgies and classes can seem like loaves of bread coming from a bread factory – one after another – and the parish staff sees it job as producing these in an efficient way. An institution keeps itself going; that’s its basic pattern.

But parish is far more than an institution. It is a base for mission, for sharing, outreach and conversion. Pope Francis says this (Joy of the Gospel, # 28):

[Parish] is a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey, and a centre of constant missionary outreach. We must admit, though, that the call to review and renew our parishes has not yet sufficed to bring them nearer to people, to make them environments of living communion and participation, and to make them completely mission-oriented.

What a great exercise it would be if parish staffs gave themselves a Saturday morning to explore how can they be more mission-oriented. How can we be a community of “missionary disciples” that we are called to be? How can we stretch ourselves beyond the comfortable core community we usually are? How do we empower all our active members to see their potential to reach out, beyond the church walls, to others?

How many times have I heard things like: “Father, we tried that”? “Father, we’ve always done it this way.” How many times have people raised the question of reaching out only to have parish behaviors revert to their standard doing-parish-for-ourselves model? One of the most popular religious books that many have read is called Rebuilt. It’s about how a pastor and his parish associate transformed an older suburban parish into a dynamic center of outreach. I doubt many parishes will exactly follow the route outlined in this book, but the book’s popularity shows parishes are wondering what they should be doing.

In my office, Paulist Evangelization Ministries, we produce many tools to help parishes become the mission centers they are called to be. But it’s hard to grow our audience because so many parishes are inward looking and just hanging on by the skin of their teeth.

How much more life they’d have, I think, if they just believed in mission, in their crucial role of experiencing conversion and calling others to conversion as well.

Father Frank DeSiano, CSP, is president of Paulist Evangelization Ministries.