I think it would be unfortunate for this thread to close or go inactive without recognition that many Parishes have very little external charity functions–which I think the Catholic structure seems primarily to delegate too much to Catholic Charities. In our Diocese there is a unit of Catholic Charities which has a title (I can’t remember exactly) suggesting the unit coordinates and guides Parish charitable activities–which seems to me a great concept, but unfortunately in practice the unit has a very small staff with little function except a small food-gathering activity (which of course is important and better than doing nothing). But I think most Parishes, expecially small ones, need some guidance and encouragement from the Diocese (we all understand how overloaded most pastors are) by helping to organize charitable activities. Our Parish has mostly internal activities with very little outreach to non-Catholics, and little chance for non-Catholics to participate. Yes we have a parish food pantry, and we do invite Church neighbors to a few dinners (if they pay) and to a couple of penny-sale type activities (where church members can volunteer evenings and weekends) and an annual picnic, and maybe once a year a concert and/or a retreat. And we have a very few volunteers who respond when a family specifically requests assistance from the Parish–but no active volunteer group to offer assistance either to members or neighbors, which I think we should be doing. Another existing volunteer program is greeters at Mass. I too would like to hear of other ideas and activities for volunteer programs, especially concerts, retreats, pilgrimmages, and ecumenical events where we can celebrate our Christianity (most of what we have is directed by the Diocese).
