EXCERPT: I got a shock last week when I found myself delivering a series of parish talks on the theme “Parish.” Suddenly I realized that I had never spoken on this topic before – in 35 years devoted to parish work!
If I had really been paying attention, the irony should not have surprised me at all. So what if I tended to take “Parish” for granted, even though it has been the focus of my entire professional career? Church teaching also takes “Parish” for granted. Canon law takes “Parish” for granted. So do most Catholics -- until someone tries to close their parish!
I’m not talking here about our church buildings. People made great sacrifices to build them and take great pleasure in using them. Nor am I talking about the identity of individual parishes. Obviously, Catholics have often invested great pride in their own parish’s schools, teams, and successes – especially wherever one’s parish came to represent community rivalries or ethnic solidarity.
No, I am talking about the phenomenon of “Parish” in general: the entity, the “thing” that has been the basis for normal day-to-day Catholic living for nearly all Catholics. If Tip O’Neill said all politics is local, we could say that all Catholic life is “Parish.”
The irony is that, for hundreds of millions of Catholics worldwide, “Parish” is like the air we breathe: we hardly ever notice it – unless we’re deprived of it.
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