More on "Energizing Vibrancy"

Yesterday we mentioned Terry's comments on an Archdiocesan "planning" thing...

Terry's mention went national, and Welborn picked it up.

A couple of incisive comments regarding the Elmbrook/Willow Creek phenomenon:

The answer is not to attempt to simplistically and slavishly imitate the apparent success of these rapidly growing church plants, as tempting as it might be, since they are, indeed, growing, and so much of their growth comes from now-unchurched Catholics.

... don’t think the growth is going to bear lasting fruit, and reading in some of their own literature, you are starting to hear worrisome noises about this, too - concerns about lasting church committment or lifestyle change, concerns about young people, and so on. It’s definitely there. These rapidly-growing places are very “contemporary” in their feel (whatever that means - one person’s contemporary is another person’s “er…lame”), so where does that leave those who grow out of the desire to have worship that’s centered on that type of music and pop culture themes? They seem to be extraordinarly centered on the personalities of the leaders.

And harking back to a practice which is now, simply, NOT practiced:

Remember what parish boundaries are all about. They are not so much about where you have the responsibility to go to Mass. They are essentially about for whom the pastor (and others) have responsibility. That’s right. The pastor’s responsibility is to share Christ with the parish - which is not just the people who show up on Sundays - it’s every person who lives in those boundaries, Catholic or not. Yeah.

Not that long ago, the Pastor of a parish would personally conduct a census--by driving to a neighborhood and going door-to-door. They could either be seeing Catholic families, or "by accident," show up at a Lut'ran door.

Of course, there's "no time for that" these days, right?

...have planning meetings, chatting about vibrancy and diocesan wide-efforts to make everyone more aware of their Catholic identity actually borne much fruit? Or just more mission statements and information packets collecting dust in a bottom drawer?

Because, see, that’s not the Catholic way, either - the way of evaluating the health and future of the Church via schematics and diagrams and planning packets either. The Catholic way is to imitate the saints, it seems to me. To preach, to teach, to gather the lost, to heal the sick, to be with the poor - to plunge into it.

Terry's trenchant request for "failure analysis" echoes in the above...

Is it the Age of Madison Avenue?

Which happens, I usually find, because people are relying on New Things and New Ideas and Exciting Paradigms instead of thinking - just a little bit - about what tradition has to teach us.

Ummmnnnnhhhhh....the Liturgeists' Revenge has roosted, folks.

In point of fact, it's exactly the Liturgeist's Revenge. A local parish organized a meeting with unhappy members (many of which were "Elmbrooking" part of the time) and got exactly what anyone would expect: install "greeters" at the front door, go "big" with Liturgical Production Values, and above all, Make It "Relevant," (whatever in Hell that may be.)

The Church's teachings are relevant--and they are vitally so.

Of course, pastors have to actually TEACH those teachings once in a while, too.