St . Aloysius Parish street ministry in Detroit , April 2015 .
In our Catholic parishes , we have become more aware of the need to bring in those outside our parishes and to ensure that they experience a sense of belonging in our communities . Today , belonging is often the first step in a person ’ s willingness to be open to Jesus Christ and his Church .
“ Belonging ” yesterday and today
Belonging used to be a pretty simple matter in Catholic parishes . If you “ belonged ” to the parish , you were part of “ the club .” The “ club ” as a whole tended to follow the same moral code . Many Catholics who were members of a particular parish also lived in close proximity to one another . There was a lot of “ connection .” While this sense of being “ at home ” in the parish was a wonderful experience for Catholics , it tended to be insular in the sense that Catholics rarely invited others — especially non-Catholics — into the fold . Priests and parishioners did not generally see evangelization as their responsibility . Somehow the comfort zones created in those parishes were so strong that the voice of Jesus saying , “ Go and make disciples of all nations ,” was barely audible to many Catholics .
This type of belonging is becoming a relic of the past . There are new factors at work . For example , we have greater diversity in our parish populations . And many parishioners don ’ t live in close proximity to one another since Catholics tend to hand-pick their parishes and not necessarily join the parish that corresponds to their geographic area . There are no longer as many built-in points of connection . We can also add two more factors : anti-Catholic bias and the extreme value placed on individualism . The almost automatic sense of belonging which was common in the past ? Well , that pleasant picture has sung its swan song .
Which , thanks be to God , has led us into a land of great evangelical opportunity ! The greatest blessing within our new situation is that we can seek to deliberately form parishes that have their sense of belonging built upon a belief in Jesus Christ and a desire to live as his disciples . Isn ’ t that the best possible “ glue ” for bonding ? Isn ’ t a sense of belonging which derives from a shared desire to be missionary disciples the perfect basis for meaningful community ? We now embrace Jesus ’ command to go and make disciples , to take seriously the foundational conviction of Archbishop Allen Vigneron ’ s 2017 pastoral letter , Unleash the Gospel , to be resolved “ to undergo a ‘ missionary conversion ,’ a change in our culture , such that every person at every level of the Church , through personal encounter with Jesus Christ , embraces his or her identity as a son or daughter of God and , in the power of the Holy Spirit , is formed and
8 Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Spring 2021