Imagine that you are now pastor of your parish. What are the top three things that you would change about it?

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Joannm said:
  1. I would have all baptisms at Sunday Mass and no private baptisms.
  2. I would make it an absolute requirement for parents of kids preparing for First Communion to take actual adult classes and not just attend parent meetings.
3) I would install a machine in the church that would block cell phone transmissions…especially incoming calls.
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Me too, and I wouldn’t tell a soul. I have thought about doing that at my own parish…
 
Here’s my list:

First, schedule more time for Confession throughout the week, and mention it (and its importance) during the homily whenever appropriate.

Second, slowly but surely remove liturgical abuses and celebrate Mass in a more “traditionally continuous” manner (e.g. some Latin, some chant, perhaps ad orientem) – but NOT WITHOUT CATECHIZING MY FLOCK about it in homilies and bulletin statements and announcements!

Third, encourage vocations very strongly.

Working its way through all three of those, though, is education of the faithful inside and outside the Mass.
 
I love this thread!

I never knew so many parishes did so many things differently

I just moved to a new town and visited my first new parish this past sunday and LOVED it…I was so confused though when they didn’t take two different offerings during the preparation of the gifts. anyway…my things
  1. I visited a Parish once that had some sort of different devotion every day of the week with all sorts of education classes and study groups meeting as well. That’s what I would add
  2. Add more official confession times
  3. Ensure a TLM mass once a week! I’ve always wanted to go to one!
and I know they only said three but my mother’s parish has a 24/7 adoration chapel…I would add that too
 
Cat said:
Spiller, it’s another topic. I realize that 99.9 % of CAF members disagree vehemently with me and I’m not sure I really want to court so much disapproval and surround myself with so much disdain from fellow Catholics. I’m still recovering from my thread last winter about “Why Don’t Catholic Churches Have Coat Racks?” (I think some people mis-read “coat racks” as “guillotines” or “nudie bars” or “shrunken heads.” I guess I should have typed more neatly.)
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Yes, I do disagree with you but I thought this post was really funny! Makes me want to look up that thread and read it. :rolleyes:
 
sneakers said:
You are truly blessed, phoenix. To have both a reverent NO AND a TLM parish! I am truly envious!

sneakers
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Dear sneakers,

It’s indeed a precious setup of Divine Providence that must be lived and appreciated in the moment … because my financial circumstances are now precarious and I may wind up moving. My two parishes are what I would miss most.

Hopefully, sneakers, by researching the web you can find something spiritually edifying that you live near?

~~ the phoenix
 
**
Sure beats praying for peace in the Middle East every week. At least your idea has a chance of working… **

Since I attend a Melkite parish where most of the people are either from the Middle East or only one or two generations removed, peace in the Middle East is a constant theme of my prayers.
 
  1. Be happy to be the pastor and care about the parish.
  2. Encourage confession and actually come to the church and be available in the confessional at the advertised times so that a person wanting to go to confession doesn’t have to come get me by the hand in the 10 minutes just before Mass.
  3. Make sure that appropriate music is used during weddings and funerals.
 
BSHoop96 said:
I’m curious about this one?
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Currently we have baptisms twice a month outside of Mass on a Sunday afternoon. We are noticing more and more that people are acting irreverent and have no sense that they are attending a sacred ritual rather than a social event. They don’t know the responses, jump up and down taking with relatives and kids are running around,

If baptism was at Mass, there would at the very least be an assembly to model proper behavior. Folks would not get the idea they are at a party and things would be calmer. Also, baptisms should be done in the midst of an assembly, an assembly of believers into whom the child is going to be initiated. I hear of so many parishes out of our geographical area where baptisms are done at mass…I have been to several and I prefer them.

With regard to private baptisms, usually the ones requesting them are not regular church goers and just don’t want other people around at the baptism. We do allow them in our parish but only for those people bring in their own priest. That sort of cuts down on them.
 
I’d put “hot wires” on the front of the pew seats, that could be activated during the EP to gig those who are too lazy to kneel up straight and flop their fannies back against the pews. 😛
 
ethelzguy said:
I’d put “hot wires” on the front of the pew seats, that could be activated during the EP to gig those who are too lazy to kneel up straight and flop their fannies back against the pews. 😛
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I would hot wire the last 6 rows of pews to make them so uncomfortable that people would be forced to fill the first 6 rows. 😃

At the anticipated Sunday Mass there are usually 30 - 40 people, 20 of whom are crammed into the last 3 rows of pews and li’l ol’ me alone in the first 5 rows.
 
I would do away with the (new Irish phenomonen) Gospel Choir.

I would offer the faithful one Mass in the Extraordinary Form on Sundays, providing I could find a Priest who could do it this way!

I would place kneelers at the points of reception giving those who wish to kneel the opportunity to do so.
 
i_have_no_names said:
1- Have Perpetual Adoration in our church

2- Have more groups and events so that we can actually get to know some of those people we see at Mass on Sundays… Including a Youth Group if at all possible

3- Start using Gregorian Chant and incense during Mass
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I echo the comments on some kind of get together so the parisheners can meet one another. Being a loner type I am clueless how this would come about but there must be Catholic social types who are adept at this. I would gladly help in any such endeavor.

John
 
Spiller said:
No need to get melodramatic. I was just curious. No worries.
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Well, I did open the can of snakes and monsters in another thread in another section of CAF. Let the bombing commence. It must be the heat that’s making me insane. Oh, well, in a democratic society, it is always important that the minority voice be heard, right? (Of course, on CAF, I’m sure that I am the ONLY one in this minority).

Also, to the poster who wants to restore the choir–exactly how would a priest go about doing that? If the choir is not already happening, what is the reason? A choir isn’t up to the priest, it’s up to the people, isn’t it? Surely your current priest isn’t holding 30 glorious singers and a professional-level pipe organist at bay and telling them to please stay away from Mass?

It is my opinion that the only way a parish priest could re-instate a choir would be to impose choir membership and pipe-organ duty as Penance after confession. That might just fill up an empty choir loft and organ bench! “Hey, buddy, you’re not just going to pray 3 Aves–you’re going to join the choir and SING them!” 😃
 
  1. Completely overhaul the hymns and music ministry and re-incorporate Latin (and Greek) into the Mass with the Introit, Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, etc. This would require teaching the congregation some Latin.
  2. Arrange to have a weekly Tridentine Mass, a weekly Latin Novus Ordo, and an English Novus Ordo containing some Latin, and all celebrating obeying the letter of the law with no EMHC or altar girls.
  3. Fill up the rest of the week with parish activities such as coordinating sports games for parish children, Daily Mass, Liturgy of the Hours, Confession, picnics, Holy Hours, collecting diapers and other stuff for unwed-mothers, Pro-life events, and family-friendly activities.
 
Wow I love this thread!!!

If I were pastor (which can’t happen considering I’m a chick…but owell, this is a magical thread!)

I would have more Latin in the Mass. (Agnus Dei for example. We did this in my old parish and it was beautiful)

I would install more confession times. (We only have confession from 3:15 to 4:00 on saturday afternoons and I know a lot of people who can’t make it…myself included)

Install a perpetual adoration chapel. The nearest one is in the next town, and I don’t have a car. :’-(

One Latin Mass every Sunday.

I know…more than three, but it’s the magical thread! Other than that though, I am so blessed to be in the parish I am in. The Mass is so reverent and wonderful.
 
Cat said:
A choir isn’t up to the priest, it’s up to the people, isn’t it? Surely your current priest isn’t holding 30 glorious singers and a professional-level pipe organist at bay and telling them to please stay away from Mass?
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Well, a priest can certainly dismantle a choir (I watched it happen), so since this is total fantasy, I figured it was fair to assume he could re-mantle it.

We did have a lovely Latin and other good stuff-singing choir, but that was deemed undesirable, so changes were instituted. We we pulled from the loft in the back of the church to the front of the assembly. This move caused unhappiness. Then, we were given contemporary “Gather” type music to sing, and were supposed to cut out the older stuff. The style of music meant we sang more with the piano than the organ. Other little things seemed to happen as well. Overall, the size of our choir began to diminish, because singers like to sing challenging music that they love. They don’t like to sing unchallenging music that they do not like. It seemed the choir would simply cease to exist for awhile, but currently we have a smaller one that only sings contemporary music.

To re-mantle it would be very difficult, I agree. Probably the members of the current-style choir like light contemporary music and would be unwilling to sing more dramatic or older stuff. I don’t know, maybe your penance idea could work. 😃

And you are not completely alone on the liquor thing. I lean in that direction. But I’m not totally on that boat.
 
I bet that after reading this thread we can all come up with more than three things. Bet some of our pastors would be interested in it too. (You know many of our pastors simply don’t know what we’d like and so “go with the status quo”–or the loudest person who happens to make his wants known.)
 
wow, Catholics serve alcohol at Church sponsored functions? wow…I’m a former Baptist and that is a MAJOR no no! lol

very interesting. You guys crack me up! Love being a Catholic (even though I don’t drink alcohol)

I found out that a Parish near me has a TLM the first sunday of each month so I’m really excited about that! Never been to one.

I agree with everyone on this thread about the music though…I wish it were more traditional. I never like contemporary music even when I was a Baptist.

I already added my 3 changes but just wanted to add some more
 
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