OUR PATH LIES ENTIRELY OUTSIDE THE PARISH

By Tim Rohr

I often get asked to become a lector, eucharistic minister (properly known as Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist), and even a deacon. I always decline. For many years, my reason was practical. My wife and I have 11 children, and my state in life, and thus my "ministry," was to be a husband and a father, and "a man cannot server two masters."

However, the real reason was I did not think it right for lay people to be serving in the sanctuary. (It's why it's called a "sanctuary.") I know the Church permits it, but I never felt good about it and still don't. But more importantly, I've always believed that we lay people can serve our Church much more when we are not in the sanctuary, but amongst our own in the marketplace, on the streets, and in our homes. This is our proper place.

There is no question, right now, that our Church is in an upheaval. And I believe much of it is due to the blurring of lines between the clergy and the laity, a blurring that has led to politics, power struggles, and corruption within dioceses and parishes which dwarf similar problems in "the world." 

Since "active participation of the laity" usually invokes images of lectors, eucharistic ministers, CCD teachers, etc. and not what I believe it to be, believing as I do can make one feel quite alone. Thus, I was heartened to read this article and to discover that I'm not alone. And maybe you're not either. 

Here are a few excerpts from WHEN THE PARISH YOU HATE, HATES YOU

• In the short term, laymen must abandon all desires, plans, and schemes to force change on the hierarchy and on the local parish. Abandon them completely.

• “The councils, the committees, the little fiefdoms of the men’s and women’s clubs, they exist not to grow, but to act as bulwarks against change. Even if the Pastor wants change, he has to deal with this interconnected web of laypeople who have his bishop’s office on speed dial and know exactly what to say for the pastor to get an unwanted call himself. “Uncharitable. Pushy. Demanding. Rigid.”

• “The path of the laity is not for us to push back into the parishes. It is not for us to rush again into a battleground in which we are powerless, unwanted, and ineffective. Our path lies entirely outside the parish, in our homes and in society.”