Parish Commitment

Your commmitment to your parish, what is it supposed to look like? If you were to make a comparison with personal relationships, how would you describe it? Do you think of your parish membership more like a dating relationship, a courtship, a betrothal, or a marriage?

If you see the parish as a place you just happen to choose to go to, and you are ready to leave on a moment's notice, then you see it like dating. The problem here should be obvious. You get out of it what you put into it, and if your commitment is that thin, then the grace you receive will be even thinner.

If you see the parish as a place you might commit to for a bit, but are looking for reasons that you might need to leave, then you see it as a courtship. The purpose of courtship is to discover whether the other person is marriageable or not. This is certainly better than "dating" your parish, but it is still pretty weak if you are actively looking for a reason to leave.

If you see the parish as something that you are committing to with the expectation that you will remain, then you see it as a betrothal. Betrothal is that state the expects marriage to occur (it is usually after an "engagement"). This is actually the best perspective because it places a person in the realm of commitment without imagining it to go beyond what the Lord expects.

If you see the parish as something that you are attached to, and can never leave, then you see it as marriage. This is a problem almost as bad as the first. Although we hope and pray that parishes never leave the path of faithfulness, Scripture tells us (often!) that this can happen, and we need to be prepared for it (like in a betrothal). No, we should not place ourselves as judges who decide whether a parish is faithful or not (that is far too subjective), but we should recognize that we are not supposed to support sin.

There are some who see their commitment to their parish as marriage and would never leave even if blasphemy occurs in each Sunday Mass (I have actually met people like this). They know it should not happen, but they just sit back and let it occur. This is participation in sin, and we are forbidden to engage in it. Yes, it takes more than, "I don't like this parish, so I decide for myself", but it is not hard to find advice and good counsel for when to leave a parish if you really are wiling to do what God commands. At the very least find a good priest that you trust and ask his advice.

Let us make sure that we each are committed to the local parish as God expects us to be; neither too much (it is not the same as the Sacrament of Marriage!), nor too little (a loose commitment to the parish equals a loose commitment to Christ and His Church), and let us encourage others to do the same.