There’s such a thing as deciding to get over yourself, and remembering that the Mass is not about you. But we can also understand our own limitations, and work with them. You could make the case that it’s all right to leave one parish and find one that suits you better, even if you don’t have impressionable children.
Read the rest of my latest for The Catholic Weekly.
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Photo by Karl Fredrickson on Unsplash
There are no parishes within 30 minutes of our house, but within the 30-50 minute radius, we have our choice of nine. We belong to one that is 50 minutes away because, quite simply, Mass there is a joy — I walk in to the church, and my spirits lift. The liturgy is reverent, the homilies helpful and deep, the music beautiful, our fellow parishioners encouraging, and the architecture draws the mind Heavenward. The great distance means that we cannot become “active” members nor attend Mass daily — but no parish is really close enough for that anyway. At least once a month for logistical reasons we find ourselves at a closer parish, but they’re never home.
We are contemplating this very thing right now. I’ve always believed in blooming where planted, but I recently had a very bad experience with a person in Sunday school leadership at the local parish and that, combined with Father usually giving us a 25-minute rambling update on his week rather than preaching an actual homily, has us looking further afield. I’d like to at least provide the kids the opportunity to hear a Christ-related homily once per week, at a parish where the catechists are not vocally and militantly opposed to the Church’s fundamental doctrines.