Next to Christmas itself, Fall is absolutely my favorite season of the year. The days get cooler, the nights get longer (which I love) and here in Maryland the foliage delights with its annual colorful display (no where more impressive than right here on our church campus). But for us churchpeople it is also the season of […]
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I was speaking to a bishop recently who was telling me about an experience he had at an area parish. He received a call on a Saturday afternoon from the pastor requesting weekend Mass coverage as he was being called away on an urgent family matter. Not having other obligations that weekend the bishop agreed […]
As we wrap up our annual summer clean-out of the parish, please enjoy a classic post: Often, parish leaders have a major weakness when it comes to keeping their church campus and space attractive for guests. It’s the same problem you have with your house: when you spend so much time in a place, you […]
Easter Sunday, and the whole of the Easter season, is always an opportunity for the parish, but never more so than this year, given the past two years of our COVID experience. Whatever size or style of your parish you will be welcoming visitors and first-timers, not to mention parishioners returning to church for the […]
Our hearts break for the Ukrainian people, especially the overwhelmingly sad suffering of children, painfully on display with the evening news. All of us in the Nativity community are praying for an end to the conflict and the restoration of national boundaries that reflect the autonomy of the Ukrainian people. But no matter what the […]
In July, the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy issued an instruction on the “pastoral conversion” of the parish community in the service of the evangelizing mission of the Church. While the focus of the document was clearly on evangelization, it also made a number of important points regarding the reality of parish life moving forward. Here […]
This week, a couple of large and successful churches across the country took a step which I found unexpected. They announced that, in view of the pandemic, they would stay closed to in-person worship services through the end of the year. Some of this decision is explained by their large size (making it harder to […]
When our parish first closed its doors three months ago in observance of COVID-19 guidelines, everything we did in response seemed like a temporary solution to a temporary problem. We anticipated that our experimental forays into Zoom staff meetings, Masses said to a camera and empty pews, online small groups, and new social media channels […]
Everyone is excited about the prospect of getting back to church. Here at Nativity, we are reintroducing live streaming this weekend and inviting our staff to join us physically for Mass. If all goes well, we can begin welcoming back parishioners after a few more weeks of testing of our safety measures. But we do […]
Towards the end of his life Jesus friend Lazarus died. Jesus, as we know, raised Lazarus from the dead, his last and greatest miracle. But, that’s not the first thing he did when he arrived. The first thing he did was…nothing. Nothing at all. Scripture tells us he paused and wept. Jesus wept. John 11:35 […]
