Your parish is worth saving
For many Catholics, the parish is a second thought. It is a place where you fulfil your Sunday obligation, receive sacraments, and maybe donate money in return.
It’s transactional.
But what if Catholics treated the parish as more than an institution?
What if we treated it like a home?
I go to Mass where I was baptized, where my grandfather was buried, and where my parents got married. There are people (even some on staff) that I disagree with on things like liturgy and evangelization. But they’re my family. They’ve known me since I was a kid.
My parish is my home.
Many young Catholics want to see their parish improve, but they see a better parish across town and are tempted to leave.
It might be God’s will for you to stay.
Your presence at a parish can’t be contingent on the community acting the way you want. That’s how a business works, not a family. Yes, there are situations where you need distance from family. But those situations should be rare. It’s a sign there is a deep problem. Leaving your parish shouldn’t be the norm.
I’ve worked with parishes across the country as an employee, volunteer, guest speaker, etc., and the one thing they had in common was: the parishioners who had been there forever had the most power to change things.
The parish was their home, so they got a say in how it was run.
If young Catholic families commit to a parish and stick with it, over time, we will have the same say in our parishes. If we don’t, we won’t.
I wrote a book called Save Your Parish about how to do exactly that.
It covers:
What a parish is (a people, not a building)
The four functions of a parish
How to identify when they’re missing
How YOU can fill those gaps (even with no formal training)
Save Your Parish is available on Amazon today. The ebook version is 99¢ for today only.
Plus, if you buy today and email me your receipt, I’ll invite you to a free live Q&A workshop where we’ll talk through these principles and how to put them into practice at your parish.
Are you ready?
The shift from transactional to familial is huge. Theidea that longevity equals influence at the parish level isn't talked about enough but it's super practical. I've seen similar patterns in community organizing, where people who show up consistently end up shaping things by default. The tension between 'better parish across town' and commitment to home feels especially relevant now when church hopping is pretty common.
I love this, and I agree, but as a third culture kid, I have a few questions and I'd love to hear your thoughts. I've lived in 3 countries so far, and have received my sacraments of initiation and reconciliation across 3 parishes. I think the experience of a TCK means we are constantly seeking out that sense of family in every parish we join, and for reasons beyond our control we end up moving every few years which makes this more challenging. I always want to give my best and my all to foster community in the parish I attend, but sometimes it can feel like I'm stepping on the toes of an already established community. What are your thoughts on what people in similar positions can do? Thanks!