Community

bibliophile2010

This post (<- clicky) got me thinking. What is your parish like? What demographics? Do you "fit in"? Do you feel a sense of community? What needs improvement? What would your ideal parish look like? What is a community? I'm not necessarily looking for survey-style answers, but more want to prompt a conversation about parish life, Catholic community and the like.

Calypso1977

the community is pretty big at my church - lots of groups to join, etc. but i dont participate anything in part becuase of time but also becuase i view church as a place to go to get my sacraments and to be with God and focus on that relationship.  i have other outlets to focus on my relationships with my peers.

also many of the groups are geared towards family.  there is not much out there for the childless married couple or the single catholic male or female.

Riss91

Our parish has a bunch of groups as well (various choirs, Handmaids of the Altar, Holy Family Prayer Group, Gospel of Life Society, Women's Guild, Youth Group, Men's Group). They also hold various Bible studies and book reading clubs. Some are more geared to families/non-working parishoners. The parish also does coffee hour after mass on Sundays, which we have attended on occasion. But, it is a bit awkward for us because we don't really know anyone. I wish I lived closer because I would like to have a local Catholic community.

Resa77

My parish has a ton of different groups, studies, clubs, etc.  I used to be super involved, but stopped after a few years because I felt that most of the active parishioners were extremely clique-y.  And that's just not my deal, and never has been!

newlyseliski

I used to be super active in the parish that H and I were married at (and are technically parishioners of) and they had a good variety of groups to get involved in, including a young adult group that I helped lead for awhile.  We now live about 45 minutes away and at most go to Mass there about once a month, but can't swing going there more frequently because our gas budget just can't handle it.  We now attend a parish that's about 10 minutes away most regularly... I don't love it as much as I love the parish that we were married in, but it also has a lot of good things going on for parishioners to get involved in.  We help out with the faith formation program but aren't officially members.  I don't feel like we can comfortably set down roots anywhere until we're more permanently settled after my husband finishes with school!

That said... my husband and I do feel a sense of Catholic community with the friendships that we carried on from the young adult group at our first parish.  Our group of friends has mostly "graduated" from it and don't attend events as frequently anymore, but we still keep in touch with one another, get together for parties, social activities, showers and book clubs.  We've also started to split off and get involved at more local parishes as we've moved out of the metro area where the parish with the young adult group is located.

meltoine

We just started attending a new parish because we moved about two months ago. I don't really feel like we fit in yet, but I hope we'll get there. I've attended a couple of meetings of a women's group, but all of the women are far older than I. It's been good for finding babysitters, though, as they all have teenage kids. There are many other young families, but it looks like they don't participate in many of the groups outside of mass and I can understand why. If I wasn't a SAHM, I wouldn't have time for it either. It's seems to me based on the parishes I've been a part of over the years, that parishes with schools tend to have more going on and more young families, but also harder to get a true sense of community because everyone is so busy. I think it was also easier to feel connected when I attended daily mass. There were twenty or so of us who were there everyday, and I definitely felt community in that group. Also, in college, but we were all involved in everything there because it was college.