A Perfect Parish is Impossible, but This One Thing Means a Lot

A liturgical style, size of the congregation, group personality—what is it that made you choose your parish? I certainly hope you didn’t settle for a parish you thought was sub-par, but we all have something we desire to change.

My husband and I admire many aspects of our parish. At the same time, bringing visitors to Mass is like inviting a beloved home to meet the family—suddenly we are more aware of the tiles falling off the pillars, if the homily is hijacked by fundraising, or whether the music is “too new” or “too old”.

This just shows that our God is perfect, not our parishes.

Yet, us modernists love to analyze what our ideal would be—the best of the best—and judge parishes thoroughly by those quantifiable expectations. The postmodern in us deconstructs every flaw ad nauseum—as if we’ve never made an error. Too often we simply refuse to be pleasantly surprised, demanding that godliness looks how we want it to look. We’re more familiar with that version of godliness than God Himself, at times!

You might have a favorite, but there is more than one beautiful, appropriate style of monstrance. To use extremes, a beautiful monstrance could be an utterly stunning, ornate Gothic cathedral’s or a makeshift one on the priest block of Dachau concentration camp in World War II.

Both point to the same one thing that can make an imperfect parish rather perfect.

Though we may seek out the closest sanctioned traditional Latin Mass or the most charismatic style of liturgy, there is one thing that truly makes a Catholic parish thrive. It makes Catholicism what it is. I know of parishes who survived financial strife and scandal, and they have this in common.

It’s incarnational, reaching across time and space and transcending all boundaries our world might define.

Matthew Kelly wrote in 33 Days to Eucharistic Glory that the presence of a perpetual adoration chapel is a sign of a thriving parish. This is not to say that the lack of a perpetual adoration chapel means the opposite, but simply that it is a great sign to have such a visible, physical presence at a parish.

Inspired by this, I posit that the one concrete, spiritual, visible sign of a truly Catholic community is devotion to the Eucharist. A parish might check all the boxes on your parish wishlist with false devotion—more devoted to meeting a certain image than to the Eucharist itself, whatever that image may be. Yet, a parish that turns you off with décor and music and even manners might cling like saints to the Eucharist. The “bells and smells” might mean more to you once you stop knocking it or you might realize that you like Gregorian chant. 

The parishes you find genuinely devout might surprise your own prejudges. That Perfect Parish checklist in the back of your mind might just lead you away from the parish God calls you to.

If the Eucharist is truly the source and summit of Catholic faith, a Catholic parish must evidently have its life pouring out from Eucharistic devotion. Overall, just like a person’s holiness cannot be judged by an odd pew arrangement, a parish’s liveliness and authentic faith cannot be fully judged by its initial impression. But, if a parish has Eucharistic devotion, that’s definitely something positive.

There are clearly sacrilegious crimes to avoid, but the parish who loves the Eucharist would remedy those—and we, in our pride, might wrongly dismiss a beautiful parish for something humanly imperfect, a misunderstanding, or a personal preference rather than see God’s genuine presence working there. I know, it can be difficult at times when you can’t locate the tabernacle, figure out the communion line protocol, or wonder if that’s real Latin or hocus pocus coming out of the sleepy priest!

One knows a devout follower of Christ by their joyful, selfless fruits. Along the same lines one can see the fruits of a parish’s Eucharistic devotions as evidence of their godly priorities amongst human imperfections. It will be active, sincere love of God and neighbor. Be aware but also beware. I simply urge us not to hastily write off entire communities while we balance our ideologies with practicality and reality.

Only God is perfect, and though we are made in His image and likeness, the only perfect thing about a parish is our God. If He’s there, be there—not lost in your own list of criticisms—and He’ll show you His love and presence.