Make Church Matter

Rebuilt by Father Michael White and Tom Corcoran, pp. 259-261 

You are not alone in your heartbreak as you watch people walk away from the Church in droves. You are not alone in your sadness to see it drift into irrelevance in the lives of so many people including your own family and friends. You are not alone in feeling frustrated about the current state of the local parish enterprise you serve. You are not alone in wanting things to go better.

You are not alone in believing that the Church should be a place where people connect with their heavenly Father, come to know their Savior, and learn to walk in step with the Holy Spirit. You are not alone in seeking to help lead people into a joyful and loving celebration of the Eucharist. You are not alone in your desire for the Church to provide meaning, purpose, and direction in people's lives. You are not alone in expecting life-changing outcomes from the incredible work you're already doing. You are not alone in wanting your congregation to have a greater impact on your community, connecting more people to Christ.

You are not alone. God is with you. God desires these things even more deeply than you do. And perhaps he has placed you exactly where you are "for such a time as this." And more than that, he's raising up still others who share that same passion to provide the vitality for a movement whose moment has come. Obedient to the Magisterium, this moment is all about giving fresh impetus to the directions set by the Second Vatican Council, reinvigorating the noblest efforts of the Catholic Church, and returning to what God's word itself tells us--his Church--to do.

We are called to give leadership to a movement whose moment has arrived: to rebuild parish life in the Catholic Church in the United States. It is a movement of the whole Body of Christ as well, to take back our Church from casual consumer Christians and put it in the hands of humble and bold believers transformed by their faith and transforming society.

And when you move, others will, too. Because people are hardwired to get into a movement. People love movements. God made us that way. Even if the desire is dormant, it is there, and you can awaken it.

We can call our congregations to the challenge of discipleship and get them growing as fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. We can make our parishes wellsprings of vitality and spirit that energize our disciples to help them become more convincing witnesses in our community. We can make an impact on the next generation for Christ. Instead of a stumbling block and obstacle course, people far from God can begin to see the Church as a great place to come to know him. Our growing disciples can joyfully serve one another and model missions that aim at restoring creation and renewing the face of the earth.

This book is not just about doing church differently. This is about being part of a movement to change people's experience of the Church so that our society is more and more transformed by Christ. It is not only something worth dying for, it is something worth living for--something worth giving your life to. And that is the movement of the kingdom of God. It is not a "religious" movement; it is a "kingdom movement." It's about the movement of the kingdom of of God.

The Lord's acts of mercy are not exhausted, his compassion is not spent; They are renewed each morning--great is your faithfulness! (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Every day there are new waves of mercies and grace God is sending your way. God wants to do something in your local church community that he is not doing anywhere else. There is a great work through you and your people he will not repeat, a unique story that he will never tell again.

Great parish leadership demands the vision to see that. And that means you've got to be looking for it, hungering for it, fasting and praying for the great work God wants to do through you. There is a mission, but he is waiting on a leader. God is waiting on you to raise your hand and say, "I'll step up. I'll do the heavy lifting and the hard work. I'll take the bullets and the criticism, but I can't take the mediocrity and irrelevance anymore. I can do this!"

Think about it. This is the Church that Christ founded and died for. This is the Church that holds the fullness of the faith and teaches with uncompromising authority on moral matters. This is the Church that serves as steward of the Eucharist and the other sacraments. This is the Church that blessedly preserves and everywhere promotes devotion to our Savor's Blessed Mother. This is the Church of the apostles and their successors, the martyrs, and the heroes of the Christian centuries: Peter and Paul, Jerome and Augustine, Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Siena, Thomas More, Ignatius Loyola, Mother Teresa, and Pope John Paul II.

This is the Body that Christ forms as his own and charges to transform society through the introduction of the kingdom of heaven on earth. It is quite simply the hope of the world. And believe it or not, you hold that hope in your hands in your local parish church. Use it.

Make church matter.