In a recent conversation with a priest, I listened attentively to his observations on the two parishes he had served as pastor. The first had a huge parish school, with close to 500 students. To keep it going required tons of fund raising, attention, time, Maalox and Tylenol. His next parish was smaller, older, and due to the demographics of the neighborhood, had fewer children, all of whom went to Catholic school or religious education programs at a nearby parish.
At this second parish he had plenty of money, a lot of time, few headaches and heartburn. But - and here's the point - he was led to conclude, he was happier at parish number one, and had to admit that the life of faith, worship, service, and formation was much more vibrant and effective at that one. Why, I had to ask, did he think that was true? "Because the children - and our focused care and attention to them - called us all to an ongoing renewal of our faith. Our love for them united the entire parish."
I hope this priest and this parish and this school all exist. A parish without a school has much less appeal to me, but there's some sub rosa sentiment to close our parish's. That sentiment focuses on cost. Our Archbishop goes on,
Yet, we have to admit, it can be counterproductive when the values our children learn at our schools and programs of religious education are not reinforced at home.
I'm at least as concerned that the values our children learn at home might be undercut by our schools and programs of religious education. If people conclude that's the case, then it's not a matter of mere cost but of value, and I wouldn't expect support for the schools, the programs of religious education, or the parish.
Another way to look at it:
ReplyDeleteIn the first parish, the WORK was harder. Communal WORK creates infrastructure and bonding to the 'benefitted' institution.