A Mission Church

This week I was sent an email with an article about a priest who had renovated the church building.  One of the central features was the inclusion of the communion rails.  The Priest emphasized that Vatican II never forbade the communion rail, and kneeling is the absolute best way to receive the Eucharist.

Now it is very important to have a sense of reverence and solemnity at Mass, and surrounding the Eucharist.  Once in awhile someone will bring up "clown Masses" and using raisin bread for the Eucharist.  As a child of the sixties I had experienced neither of these.  And, most probably this sort of expression and familiarity has not been of our liturgical tradition for some time.

I mention this as I also share that a couple weeks ago I had suggested dropping the morning Mass on two days of the week, and having an afternoon or evening Mass.  This caused quite a stir.  To be sure our neighboring parish Has morning Mass at the exact same time we do.  For two days of the week, go next door, and allow the parish to open daily Mass to entirely different group.  Because I am sure that there are peoples who would love to go to Mass, receive the Eucharist, to begin their day in communion with Jesus.

While these two things seem unrelated, I think that we need to revisit the Vatican II challenge to reclaim our status as a 'Missionary' Church.  To be sure there is a small group which would find comfort in communion rails, for many catholics, and potential catholics, it is a spirituality which is not even close to being part of their faith expression.  And while it is convenient to have a Mass time which suits our needs, didn't Jesus suggest that we move out of our comfort zone for the good of our brothers and sisters.

Once upon a time we had large catholic parishes in which large families went to Mass every Sunday, we filled our catholic schools, and rectories and convents were bursting with priests and religious.  Things were comfortable.  But in retrospect I don't know if they were good.  Our faith really is about sharing 'Good News' and witnessing to the Gospel in word and in deed.  For most catholics I suspect the very idea of sharing faith is anathema.  But the Second Vatican Council suggests that this is what we should have been doing all along.

'Faith' was something that 'Father' and 'Sister' did.  The average catholic was about paying, praying, and obeying.  When Jesus sends out the apostles, or the seventy-two, or his disciples, he makes no mention of theology degrees, or taking vows.  Jesus makes known the fact that we are expected to proclaim the Gospel.  "Whoever is for us is not against us."  At Baptism, and as parents, we are told that we must share faith with our children.  This seems to imply more than dropping kids off at Religious Education class.

To be sure not everyone is going to be happy at the same time.  More so most of us remember a time or experience that we hold as the "best time of our life."  But our parishes have to make an effort to evangelize, draw new people into the Church, to catechize, and to transform our world.  The Church has a mission to unfold the Kingdom of God.  We don't do it be staying the same.