While perusing the latest “Great Lakes Bay Catholic”, the magazine of the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw, I noticed that there are 24,466 registered families in the Diocese of Saginaw, along with 56 parishes. I remembered that a long time ago I spoke to a group of people about the structure of the Roman Catholic Church from the parish level to the Vatican. While not perfect, I thought I did a pretty good job. Only as I was driving out of the parking lot, did I realize that I had failed miserably!
How? I failed to even mention the most important and basic level of the Church. I failed to mention the Domestic Church, the home and family. While we often speak of the declining number of priests and religious, the closing of parishes and schools, the decline of the number of mass goers, and financial struggles, no one talks much about the declining Domestic Church.
The parish can have the best priests, the best liturgies, the best music, the best religious education programs, the most updated sound systems and beautiful space for worship, but if that is what we focus on we miss the mark. Our greatest need and focus ought to be on the Domestic Church, the family. After all, we have almost twenty-five thousands of them.
Where is it that children learn or fail to learn their faith? The family. Where is it that we learn to love and love? The family. Where do we learn to pray? The family. Where do we learn the catechism, the Bible, and about God? The family. Who provides and protects the members of the Church? The family.
Parents are the clergy and leaders in the Domestic Church. They are the primary educators and evangelizers of their children. They are the leaders of prayer. Parents mostly teach through modeling their own faith. Whatever we do at the parish level has its origins in the family. Even our Eucharistic prayer reminds us of the Prayer before Meals that we pray at home.
Too many of us think of religious and spiritual matters as concerning only the parish and priests and religious. What has church got to do with me? Everything. The foundation of the Church is Jesus, but even Jesus cannot sustain the Church if we do not have a healthy Domestic Church. As one person said, “If it is not happening in the home, it just isn’t happening.” The home is where Jesus is incarnated and becomes real every day.
“May the Lord bless and keep you. May he let his face shine upon you, be gracious to you and give you his peace.”
