Enlightenment is on the menu at the diner

y Mary Regina Morrell

"Every baptized Catholic is personally called by the Holy Spirit to make his or her contribution to the coming of God's kingdom." Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples

If anyone is interested in really getting a handle on the pulse of Catholics in their local parishes there is a sure place to go to get the inside scoop -- the neighborhood diner.

Just pick your table, order your coffee and plan on hanging out for a while. Inevitably someone will come in and share their "Church" opinions loudly enough for the entire room to hear. I've experienced it many times before, but today my lunch was punctuated with especially emphatic comments from a local parishioner about the "new priest" who is "young, but nosey," her disgust with the "money hungry stuff" and her frustration with the consolidation of Masses. She was quick to point out to her companions that she did not like to be told what to do and if the first morning Mass was eliminated she had no intentions of returning to that church and be packed into the next Mass.

Well, it was obvious this person had issues with her parish and her Church, enough to stretch over soup, sandwich and a hefty piece of chocolate cream pie, but then I would imagine a great many of us do. I know I have mine -- some of which are valid, some trivial, some a bristling at authority -- but I wouldn't consider it prudent, tactful or productive -- and certainly not Christian -- to get on the loud speaker at K-Mart and run down the list before the next blue light special.

And then, to be fair, what might our priests be sharing with each other over coffee about the challenges of ministering to a flock whose members can often be perceived as lukewarm, selfish and, even, hostile?

How frustrating must it be to look out from the altar on a Sunday morning and see only a fraction of parishioners in the pews? How could so many stay away from the opportunity to partake in the Body of Christ? Do those who remain at home share the same issues as my fellow diner patron -- nosey, know-it-all priests, too heavy a focus on money, too little concern for the comfort and convenience of parishioners?

Certainly, priests would be right to point out that comfort and convenience would not fall into the vision of Christ as important to worship, especially considering the painful and total self-sacrifice of Christ on the cross, but then again, some parishioners might try to make a case that priests often seem out of touch with the demands of family life in today's culture.

So, who should win in a face-off between priests and parishioners?

Hopefully, Christ -- Teacher, Rabbi, Savior, Lord, Beloved.

In the ensuing arguments about what we each feel is the right way to do things we often lose sight of the reason we are doing them: Love -- a love that was incarnate because of the love that is divine.

Simply put, in the very meaningful words of another rabbi, Abraham J. Twerski, "Valuable relationships can be costly. If we are not willing to sacrifice our comfort for a relationship, but look only for friends or spouses {parishioners or priests, God or Church} that will demand nothing of us, the Talmud teaches that this relationship will be worth exactly what we invest in it: nothing. Likewise, if we seek spiritual goals that will come easily to us without any effort or deprivation on our part, we will achieve goals that are worth nothing."

Coffee anyone?

Contact

Diocese of Metuchen
http://www.diometuchen.org NJ, US
Mary Regina Morrell - associate director, Office of Religious Education, 732 562-1990

Email

mmorrell@diometuchen.org

Keywords

relationships, God, priests, parish

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