It Depends

Father Yoelvis Gonzalez recently told me, “The success of a parish isn't determined by the number of bodies in the pews on Sunday; it’s defined by the lives of the parishioners from Sunday to Sunday.”

I’ve spent a lot of time pondering that statement, wondering what to make of it and why it stood out as so profound to me.

We often hear of numbers: “megachurches” that have thousands in attendance; weekly tithing and the comparison of amounts; newly interested folks in RCIA every year who desire to enter fully into communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

But what do those numbers represent if anything but simple quantity? Are we reducing our “flock” to individuals who take up space and make our parish look like its thriving? And if they are there, why are they really there?

Music is beautiful, but we can “praise and worship” anywhere. Homilies are awesome, but they can be found in a podcast. And coffee and donuts are a Sunday delight, but Dunkin Donuts is just down the street.

So what does it mean to have a successful parish? Is the church with the most in attendance doing the best job at getting their little Catholics to heaven, or is it the church down that street with a few who show up?

Hint: it depends.

It depends on the hearts of those individuals in Mass, and how charitable they are when faced with adversity.

It depends on whether they show up on Sunday (and well, any other day of the week, as well) not out of obligation but out of real love.

It depends on how they treat their families, their friends, their employees and coworkers; how they parent, how they forgive, and how they hold on.

It depends on how they spend their free time and whether it's steeped in morality and value, or not.

It depends on what they give back to Him: simply 10 minutes here and there, or every waking moment in some form or another?

It depends on their obedience: to Scripture, to the Church, and most importantly, to Him.

It depends on their day to day life, and how they live the 24 hours they are given each and every single day.

It depends on their acceptance of Truth, and whether or not they actually live it.

It depends on their Faith, and where that faith belongs.

It depends on their Hope, and what they hold onto when life gets really dark.

It depends on their humility, and whether they crawl to confession and ask forgiveness when they screw up yet again.

It depends on their excuses, and what they stand for.

It depends on goodness and holiness, and which they accept as necessary.

It depends on transformation, and how well they allow Him to encounter them in their strength AND in their weakness.

But most of all, it depends on Him, and how much they really, truly love Him.

You see, the success of a parish isn’t the numbers—God can make an empire out of a mound of clay, and remember how many apostles there were?

Rather, how successful a parish is lies in the hearts and souls of her people. The feelings of entertainment, just like the feelings of love, will always ebb and flow. The music will vary, the homilies will fluctuate, the priests will change. You see, that's why we, as Catholics, aren't supposed to get attached to our priests; we know they will be relocated within a few years, and when that happens, is our foundation in Christ, or in the personality of the priest?

But Jesus….yes, Jesus is always the same. So why are you actually going to mass? And what does your Sunday to Sunday look like?

That….THAT determines the success of a Catholic Church.