For most parishes, the holiday season is a busy one filled with lots of fun and faith filled events and traditions. It is definitely a beloved and beautiful time of year. But it is also a season of opportunity that can easily be missed amid the rush of these final days of the year. Consider […]
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As we approach Thanksgiving many parishes undertake their annual stewardship campaign, to invite giving to the parish in the coming year. It’s a good time of year to do it, ahead of the holidays, but close enough to the new year. And it has to be done, as even the most disciplined and dedicated givers can become […]
Recently we had a fun weekend here at Nativity as we announced our return to the Maryland State Fair for Christmas Eve, for the first time since 2019. If you don’t know the back story on “Christmas at the Cow Palace” (as we say around here), check it out in Rebuilt. Bottom line, we go off […]
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 […]
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 […]
