Consistently, the bishop and the diocese have been using such elusive words as "vital" and "vibrant" to describe parishes worth keeping. I have come to loath these words since they essentially mean nothing and can be manipulated for whatever use one desires. In any case, I'd like to pay some attention to the word "vibrant." Let's go straight to the old Merriam-Webster:
As you can see, definition #2 is what we're looking at: "pusating with life, vigor, or activity." Of course, when used in connection with a parish, this could mean any number of things. Not all "life, vigor, or activity" is even desirable. For those of us at St. Mary's, we are well aware that our little parish indeed pulsates with life, vigor, and activity. It is a spiritual powerhouse. There is Eucharistic adoration weekly for several days per week, there is the Promoters of the Blessed Sacrament group, Third Order Carmelites, the Legion of Mary, the Holy Name Society, daily mass and of course weekend masses (three altogether on the weekend--pretty good for a small parish), the Feast of the Assumption (which predates the parish), the well-kept meditative Rosary Garden, the outdoor Stations of the Cross, and on and on. People at St. Mary's love God and love to worship Him.
Our problem at St. Mary's, however, is that the bishop doesn't seem to be interpreting vibrancy in the same way we would. To him, vibrancy has to do (a.) with numbers and (b.) with lay "involvement" (downplaying the priestly role and replacing it as much as possible with laypeople). Since we are a small church that relies heavily on our priest to bring us the holy sacraments, this seems to be the opposite of what Bishop Galante sees as essential to vibrancy. St. Mary's is moving in the opposite direction he would have us move.
However every Catholic knows that there are many who attend church on Sunday (if even then) who are not especially religious and who are utterly uninvolved in other activities at their church and who don't necessarily live a Christian life. Non only that, but the numbers churches have "on the books" do not necessarily reflect their attendance patterns.
And there are also some churches, Catholic and Protestant, in which people attend more for social than religious reasons. Even "activity" at a church does not equate spiritual "vibrancy." This is a basic error in logic. Activity, in and of itself, has little to do with living an authentically Catholic life. Similarly, the number of people in attendance at mass does not always have anything to do with piety. We see this every week at churches where half of those in attendance leave immediately after receiving Holy Communion, for example.
Let us challenge the bishop to draw out specifically what he means in the use of these codewords. We must either claim the word "vibrant" by disabusing ourselves of the bishop's misinterpretation of it or disown the word altogether. St. Mary's is obviously "vibrant" to just about anyone who walks through the doors of the church. You can feel the power and presence of God in this place, and we at St. Mary's try to live out what God calls us to be as Catholics. Why is a strong and fervently Catholic religious faith not enough for the bishop? What would he have us become?
- Function:
- adjective
- Date:
- 1616
1 a (1): oscillating or pulsating rapidly (2): pulsating with life, vigor, or activity <a vibrant personality> b (1): readily set in vibration (2): responsive, sensitive2: sounding as a result of vibration : resonant <a vibrant voice>3: bright 4 <a vibrant orange>-- vi·brant·ly adverb
As you can see, definition #2 is what we're looking at: "pusating with life, vigor, or activity." Of course, when used in connection with a parish, this could mean any number of things. Not all "life, vigor, or activity" is even desirable. For those of us at St. Mary's, we are well aware that our little parish indeed pulsates with life, vigor, and activity. It is a spiritual powerhouse. There is Eucharistic adoration weekly for several days per week, there is the Promoters of the Blessed Sacrament group, Third Order Carmelites, the Legion of Mary, the Holy Name Society, daily mass and of course weekend masses (three altogether on the weekend--pretty good for a small parish), the Feast of the Assumption (which predates the parish), the well-kept meditative Rosary Garden, the outdoor Stations of the Cross, and on and on. People at St. Mary's love God and love to worship Him.
Our problem at St. Mary's, however, is that the bishop doesn't seem to be interpreting vibrancy in the same way we would. To him, vibrancy has to do (a.) with numbers and (b.) with lay "involvement" (downplaying the priestly role and replacing it as much as possible with laypeople). Since we are a small church that relies heavily on our priest to bring us the holy sacraments, this seems to be the opposite of what Bishop Galante sees as essential to vibrancy. St. Mary's is moving in the opposite direction he would have us move.
However every Catholic knows that there are many who attend church on Sunday (if even then) who are not especially religious and who are utterly uninvolved in other activities at their church and who don't necessarily live a Christian life. Non only that, but the numbers churches have "on the books" do not necessarily reflect their attendance patterns.
And there are also some churches, Catholic and Protestant, in which people attend more for social than religious reasons. Even "activity" at a church does not equate spiritual "vibrancy." This is a basic error in logic. Activity, in and of itself, has little to do with living an authentically Catholic life. Similarly, the number of people in attendance at mass does not always have anything to do with piety. We see this every week at churches where half of those in attendance leave immediately after receiving Holy Communion, for example.
Let us challenge the bishop to draw out specifically what he means in the use of these codewords. We must either claim the word "vibrant" by disabusing ourselves of the bishop's misinterpretation of it or disown the word altogether. St. Mary's is obviously "vibrant" to just about anyone who walks through the doors of the church. You can feel the power and presence of God in this place, and we at St. Mary's try to live out what God calls us to be as Catholics. Why is a strong and fervently Catholic religious faith not enough for the bishop? What would he have us become?
I think we can sum up the Bishop's personal definition of vibrant in one word - Protestant!
He wants to offer all of these services (adult daycare, child daycare and "popular" music) that the protestants have offered forever. If that's what we wanted, we would already be protestant!! He should just convert instead of trying to drag all of us along with him.