Saint Mary: Year of the Domestic Church
When we refer to our parish, we often refer to our “home” parish. Perhaps this is the parish we grew up at, or the parish we were married at. Maybe it’s the parish where we raise our own families, or where we land after relocating to a new city. This is the parish we attend each weekend surrounded by families we experience life with, or watch from afar as they move in and out of seasons of life. Our parish homes are much like our personal homes. They are places where we live and grow together.
Within our parishes, we find God’s family, the Church. And God’s family is our family. In his address “The Parish is the Family of Families,” Pope John Paull II said “I invite all you who are unsure about the Church or w ho doubt that you will be welcomed to come home to the family of families, to come home to your parish. You belong there! It is your family in the Church, and the Church is the household of God in which there are no strangers or aliens (cf. Eph. 2:19).”
There are no strangers in our parishes, as there are no strangers in our homes. In what ways can you reach out to a new parishioner to welcome them into your parish family? In what ways does your parish feel like home?
More Domestic Church resources ideas are at: