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| Duccio, "Madonna on a Throne" |
I’ll observe a certain favorable development in the life of the parish: families with Children.
I’ll shoot from the hip in reacting, apprehending this development. One thing, I should take care not to neglect the immediate needs of the rest of the parish. Okay. That said, I’m acknowledging a development: families.
I got busted for “crying” or for “tears” one or the other—can’t remember which—in an anecdote relating my reaction to the recent noticeable bump in the participation of some new families at Sunday Mass.
Credit where it’s due, “I want this to be the parish of the big families” is a one-liner which I did not come up with. Rather, it’s from one of the new families themselves.
It may be worth spotting what prepared for this moment, so that we don’t foolishly forget it, much less decide to go in a different direction.
"Ad orientem" has something to do with it. To chuck this would be kind of like killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
Certainly, Eucharistic piety and support for the older form of the Mass has also helped. Don’t forget, either the concrete act of gratitude for encouraging vasectomy reversal. As well as the new little one one the way as a result. In this regard the parish is certainly growing.
Image: Duccio, "Madonna and Child on a Throne"
