- Jan 31, 2005
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I was reading an article about a Catholic parish that has basically turned into the Catholic version of a mega-church, and recalled a parish some of my relatives used to belong to that was of such a great size that they had to basically replace their existing building with something that from the outside appears to be the size of a Cathedral.
My feeling is that such parishes should be split. You look at the region you serve and put a new parish on the other side of it. Not only does this allow both parishes to grow, it means that people who have transportation issues (health, economics, a shared car that someone else needs to use sometimes, no bus routes on Sundays, whatever) or who aren't willing to drive very far or get up early enough to drive very far, are more likely to go to mass when there is a parish close to them, and it allows parishes to offer a somewhat different church experience from each other.
Sometimes in rural areas, you have a parish that might, for example, tend to be very conservative, and the liberals in the area wind up having to travel far away to get to a parish that they can tolerate, having to deal with clergy and parishioners they perceive as hostile to their understanding of the faith, or leave for a non-Roman Catholic church or denomination that has a local parish or congregation (I know that while the parish I mentioned that I think should be split is obviously very popular with some, that a lot of people who might having a disagreement with a pastor or something wind up with very few options and that there are a lot of people who don't feel their spiritual needs are being met by that parish's theology and practice). I assume the same is true for some conservatives in areas where the only parish is progressive or liberal. There are also different liturgical preferences and so on and so forth.
Now, sometimes, there just aren't enough Catholics in a given area to support more than one parish, so people just have to deal as best they can. There's no reason for a parish to grow into a mega-church and plan to stay that way long-term, though. If you have that many parishioners and they are donating in such a way that makes it clear two parishes could be supported, there should be two parishes IMO. That is the way things used to be done.
I also think there can be problems with people being able to go talk to a priest when they need some pastoral counseling or advice when there is a mega parish versus a smaller parish (Granted, mega parishes usually get more priests assigned to them). Deacons can fill that role to some degree. At some point, though, there are too many people under one pastor's pastoral care- the head priests isn't going to know who people are.
Now, the clergy shortage puts a spin on this whole thing. Because Catholics believe that only priests and bishops can celebrate mass, consecrate the Eucharist, and hear confessions, if there aren't enough priests to support a number of smaller parishes, one common solution proposed and sometimes implemented is merging the parishes into one so that the priest is celebrating each mass with more people present, requiring fewer total priests, and so on. However, I think the clergy shortage could be addressed better by simply ordaining married men and women, and women in general.
I'm also not sure that having a large parish doesn't sometimes negatively effect the level of vocations discerned versus smaller parishes. When people get to know priests better as individuals, they are probably more likely to see it as something they could do, and priests may have more time to talk theology with people in casual settings. When the priest is a distance figure presiding over passes with thousands of people each week, who you have no personal relationship with at all, it's perhaps less likely to be something that really presses upon your consciousness. I have no numbers to support that, but I think when we bring priests closer to the people, the people are more likely to become priests.
My feeling is that such parishes should be split. You look at the region you serve and put a new parish on the other side of it. Not only does this allow both parishes to grow, it means that people who have transportation issues (health, economics, a shared car that someone else needs to use sometimes, no bus routes on Sundays, whatever) or who aren't willing to drive very far or get up early enough to drive very far, are more likely to go to mass when there is a parish close to them, and it allows parishes to offer a somewhat different church experience from each other.
Sometimes in rural areas, you have a parish that might, for example, tend to be very conservative, and the liberals in the area wind up having to travel far away to get to a parish that they can tolerate, having to deal with clergy and parishioners they perceive as hostile to their understanding of the faith, or leave for a non-Roman Catholic church or denomination that has a local parish or congregation (I know that while the parish I mentioned that I think should be split is obviously very popular with some, that a lot of people who might having a disagreement with a pastor or something wind up with very few options and that there are a lot of people who don't feel their spiritual needs are being met by that parish's theology and practice). I assume the same is true for some conservatives in areas where the only parish is progressive or liberal. There are also different liturgical preferences and so on and so forth.
Now, sometimes, there just aren't enough Catholics in a given area to support more than one parish, so people just have to deal as best they can. There's no reason for a parish to grow into a mega-church and plan to stay that way long-term, though. If you have that many parishioners and they are donating in such a way that makes it clear two parishes could be supported, there should be two parishes IMO. That is the way things used to be done.
I also think there can be problems with people being able to go talk to a priest when they need some pastoral counseling or advice when there is a mega parish versus a smaller parish (Granted, mega parishes usually get more priests assigned to them). Deacons can fill that role to some degree. At some point, though, there are too many people under one pastor's pastoral care- the head priests isn't going to know who people are.
Now, the clergy shortage puts a spin on this whole thing. Because Catholics believe that only priests and bishops can celebrate mass, consecrate the Eucharist, and hear confessions, if there aren't enough priests to support a number of smaller parishes, one common solution proposed and sometimes implemented is merging the parishes into one so that the priest is celebrating each mass with more people present, requiring fewer total priests, and so on. However, I think the clergy shortage could be addressed better by simply ordaining married men and women, and women in general.
I'm also not sure that having a large parish doesn't sometimes negatively effect the level of vocations discerned versus smaller parishes. When people get to know priests better as individuals, they are probably more likely to see it as something they could do, and priests may have more time to talk theology with people in casual settings. When the priest is a distance figure presiding over passes with thousands of people each week, who you have no personal relationship with at all, it's perhaps less likely to be something that really presses upon your consciousness. I have no numbers to support that, but I think when we bring priests closer to the people, the people are more likely to become priests.
