Byzantine Catholic Family Matters

Evangelizing Ourselves and Our Children IV

Parish as Family

In earlier segments of this series the focus was on the importance of parents in fostering a healthy faith in their children. The family as a center of faith is of crucial importance to the developing faith of the child. So too is the parish in the developing faith of the child as well as in the ongoing growth in the faith of the child's parents. If you belong to a healthy, vital parish community, you feel at home. You are part of a family. In Passing on the Faith, Merton P. Strommen and Richard A. Hardel studied many Christian congregations and identified eight characteristics found in those congregations that have a strong identity as a family. As you read through these characteristics, rather than think about how your own parish might be lacking or strong in a particular characteristic, think about how you might help fill a void and develop that characteristic in your parish, or make a strong point even stronger.

· A parish family creates a hospitable climate. Are newcomers and visitors made to feel welcome? Are people of other ethnic and racial backgrounds welcome? Are persons of all ages made to feel welcome? Are the parish family's arms open wide ready to embrace and welcome new members to the community?
· A parish family has inspirational worship. Does the parish family sing out for the world to hear during the Liturgy? Does the parish family create opportunities to learn about or refresh their memories as to what they are doing and why they are doing it in liturgy?
· A parish family creates a caring environment. Does the parish family warmth, cohesiveness and exuberance? Does the caring for extend beyond the parish family? Do parishioners spend time with one another when not attending the Divine Liturgy and other worship services? Are the lonely and those without family in the parish "adopted" by parishioners?
· A parish family creates a thinking climate. Does your parish provide opportunities for members to learn more about the faith? Does your parish invite speakers to discuss issues of concern to you as a parent, a citizen, a teenager or young adult?
· A parish family is made up of families who help families. Do families spontaneously help one another in times of crisis? Are opportunities created for parishioners to help families from within and outside the parish in times of crisis or need?
· A parish family creates an emphasis on prayer. Do families join together for prayer outside the Liturgy? Do they actively pray for one another and have a prayer request list? Are opportunities offered to learn about different forms of prayer (e.g., the Jesus Prayer and the Akathist to the Mother of God)?
· A parish family creates opportunities for intergenerational service. Does the parish offer opportunities for the young, the middle aged and the elderly to join together in some common effort to serve the parish or the larger community? That is does the parish live as a healthy family with each age group invested and involved?
· A parish family creates a sense of mission. Does the parish family foster a sense that it is about something much bigger than itself and that it is called to service and witness?

If anything is clear it is that if we are to pass on the faith to our children, the parish must be much more than a place to anonymously fulfill one's Sunday obligation and being one of the first out the parking lot. We have to belong to a community of believers, a family of faith. This need is even stronger for our youth. Strommen and Handel point to the need for the parish family to foster the development of a subculture for the youth of the parish. That will be the subject of the next installment in this series.