My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As I am sure you noticed, confessions were cancelled multiple times two weeks ago. It was not something that I wanted to do, but something I had to do as I received news on Wednesday, October 2nd that our Parish will not be receiving a Parochial Vicar until July 2025.

“The whole concern of doctrine and its teaching must be directed to the love that never ends. Whether something is proposed for belief, for hope, or for action, the love of our Lord must always be made accessible, so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love.”
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 25

There is no denying that volunteering for Parish ministry is a great help to the priests and the Parish staff. What most people don’t realize though is that volunteering for Parish ministry is also a great help to your own spiritual life, too!

Your financial contributions to the Parish not only support the Parish but they also help to spiritually feed you.

In last week’s article, I mentioned the cyclical relationship between a Parish and the faithful – our registered Parishioners. The Parish feeds into the faithful and the faithful give back to the Parish and, in turn, are better prepared to fulfill their call to sanctify the world.

In what ways can the faithful contribute to their parish to help create a vibrant and thriving community that effectively spreads the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now that we have looked at the history of parishes and what a parish should provide to the faithful, it’s time to look at how the faithful are asked to give back.

What should a Catholic parish provide to its people?

Celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and having the other sacraments of the Church readily available to the people is a priority at Prince of Peace, but did you know that there is so much more we offer our parishioners?

What is a Catholic Parish?

Before going into how to live a Christ-filled life in a Catholic parish, let’s look at what a Catholic parish is and why the Church created parishes. The history of parishes dates to Popes Zosimus (417-418) and Leo the Great (440-461). At that time, parishes were given specific geographical areas by the bishop to ensure the pastoral care of the faithful.

Do you remember your own baptism? I wish I could; I was baptized as an infant, just a few days old. I envy the adults I have seen baptized at the Easter Vigil. Hopefully, they experience what St. Paul says in the epistle we hear at the Vigil. For Paul, Baptism is a sign of dying and rising to new life. Sounds like Easter to me. So when Jesus died, he rose from the dead. Is Paul telling us that we will rise from the dead, too?

This year, we hear the Passion from the gospel of Mark. One thing unique about this reading is the emphasis on Jesus being abandoned by his disciples. First, the leaders of the disciples, Peter, James, and John, cannot even support Jesus in his agony in the garden: They fall asleep, three times. Then there is Judas, who seeks out the chief priests to make a deal with them, Peter, who denies Jesus three times, and the disciples who flee when he is arrested. The crowds who cried, “Hosanna!” a few days before, now call for him to be crucified. Even Simon the Cyrenian had to be forced to help carry the cross.

Just before our first reading it says that “the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.” (1Sam 3:1) I imagine most people today would think that was true. Haven’t you ever wished you lived in biblical times, to see some of the miracles you read about? Wouldn’t it be cool to hear the LORD speaking in a vision? Do you think God has stopped talking? People apparently felt that way in Samuel’s time. Let’s look at the reading to see what Samuel’s experience can teach us.