Catholic Parish Community, the Evangelical Sensibility, and the Parish School

After reading the recent postings on the difficulties of maintaining Catholic communal attachments in the sometimes alienating suburban environment, I want to emphasize the troubling contradiction identified by Rob Vischer in his post about modes of social interaction between evangelical and Catholic congregations and then note as a partial answer the vitality of the Catholic parish school to parish community life.

First, as introduced by Eduardo Peñalver in his posting, Catholicism in its doctrine (beginning with the Trinity) and social teaching (from solidarity to the preferential option for the poor) is communal in nature, whereas the American suburb can be highly individualistic in daily life and interaction (or lack thereof) with neighbors and others in the community. Interestingly, and in rather sharp contradiction with the principles of community central to Catholic teaching, Rob Vischer accurately contrasts the powerful and uplifting communal nature of worship in evangelical churches (even and perhaps especially of the suburban genre), as against the almost stand-offish approach of congregants attending Sunday Mass in many or most Catholic parishs (whether of the urban or suburban variety).

I applaud the understanding that the celebration of the Mass itself ought to be focused upon God, with worship directed upward. For that reason, I too can be unsettled when worship is interrupted by often awkward and misplaced attempts to encourage socializing during the Eucharist. But when the Mass has ended and Catholic congregants dissipate with little more than a perfunctory handshake with the priest on the run toward the door, I submit that there is a serious disconnect from Catholic understandings of the human community that deserves more considered attention. If Catholic communities are to remain vibrant as society changes and as ethnic conclaves dissolve, Catholic parishes must recapture a sense of community.

Like Rob, I too come from an evangelical Christian background. For that reason, I have been sensitive to what almost appears to be an anti-social atmosphere in many (although by no means all) Catholic parish settings. Indeed, when moving beyond evangelical Protestantism in my journey toward the Catholic Church, one of the most precious things that I thought I was leaving behind was the evangelical consciousness, that is, the intensely personal -- and simultaneously social and communal – atmosphere when fellow believers gathered together. In fact, however, there is no reason for that evangelical sensibility to be missing, especially in the Church that Christ founded by sharing the Gospel with the original evangelists.

Catholics ought to be at least as evangelical, if not in style or culture then in deliberate approach and meaningful practice, as our Protestant brothers and sisters. To be sure, and I have greatly appreciated being a part of such communities, some Catholic parishes and other Catholic groups have found the way to a distinctly Catholic sense of community. But most parishes have yet to find the way there. And I submit the problem lies in that prevailing mind-set in the typical Catholic parish rather than in the geographical location of a parish in a suburban rather than an urban setting. The initial responsibility must lie with the priests, who as leaders of the parish set a tone and style, but ultimately we all must take responsibility as well (and I include myself, when I think of how quickly my feet move after -- and sometimes before -- the priest says that "the Mass is ended").

Second, while only a partial answer to the community disconnect problem, a parish school can be a vital center for a Catholic community. In my experience, parishioners whose children are or once did attend the parish school are far more likely to be engaged with the parish and with one another. Catholic elementary education has value for a multitude of reasons, but not the least of them is the way in which family involvement in the school puts down roots in the parish and puts out branches toward others also involved in the school. I am convinced that the future of the Catholic Church, at least in the United States, is inextricably intertwined with the future of Catholic education. Any attack on Catholic education, and any impediment by law or policy toward choosing Catholic education, ultimately is an attack on the Church itself.

Greg Sisk