Last winter, I set up space heaters in the basement. I go down there every so often and it is just so cold. I was determined to heat up the space. Successfully, with 5 space heaters plugged in, I looked around, content with my work…until the breaker tripped and I was left in a room that was not only cold but now also pitch black.

The parish is much like the breaker for the Church as a whole. It is a crucial piece of the system. It’s through it that the community is transformed, just as the breaker transformed my basement.

The Church transforms each part of the world not through using force or training videos. The mission of the Church is lived out by the parish. The parish is the main place where a local community experiences the Catholic Church.

When a parish is living out the mission of the Church, everything functions and the ‘basement’ stays warm. When the parish is not working (when the breaker has tripped) the parish and all the surrounding community is not only back where it started, but plunged into darkness.

Whether the parish is living out the mission or not, it is the main thing bringing the community higher or abandoning the very same people. There is no backup plan. With the call of God to evangelize, we are given a huge responsibility. We are charged to bring every soul in the parish area to Christ.

This responsibility is so central to the life of the Church that St. John Paul II lists it as a, “first and necessary expression” of the parish. That means it’s the most important and can’t be ignored! We cannot live out the mission of the Church if we never reach the people closest to us and draw them into the family of Christ.

But what does this family actually look like? How do we need to live in order to share the love of Christ with our neighbors around us?

Next week, St. John Paul II challenges parishes to become authentic families to be a witness to what it means to be fully alive. But that may not mean what you think it does…