On Mondays, I answer questions frequently asked by those considering a return to the Catholic Church. How do I know this stuff? I was away for more than 30 years myself, and am the co-author of When They Come Home: Ways to Welcome Returning Catholics, a book for pastors and parish leaders interested in this ministry.
Why can’t I just pray to God at home? Why do I even have to join a parish or go to church? Is it just so they can send me those envelopes and other requests for money?
Here’s what St. John Chrysostom had to say: “You cannot pray at home as at church, where there is a great multitude, where exclamations are cried out to God as from one great heart, and where there is something more: the union of minds, the accord of souls, the bond of charity, the prayers of the priests.”
Churches and churchpeople can be messy, frustrating, and challenging. But in learning to love them as God loves us, they and we are changed. And that’s what God and Catholicism are all about.
As for why you should register: Dioceses set parish boundaries in hopes of matching each location—in terms of the size of the physical plant and the number of priests—with the appropriate number of the faithful. The parishioners need to be able to meet the parish’s needs by offering their time, talent, and treasure—and the pastor and his staff, ordained and other, need to be able to meet the needs of the congregation in terms of spiritual guidance (including the number of Masses, visits to the sick and elderly, sacramental events such as baptisms and weddings, and funerals). If the pastor and the bishop don’t have an accurate count of the number of Catholics availing themselves of these services, those in the pews are hurting themselves as well as the pastor and staff.
Yes, we are called in one of the Church’s five precepts to help provide for the Church’s material needs, based on our ability to do so. Some people have more financial wherewithal than others. You should never be denied—or, for that matter, granted—a sacrament or a parish service based on the amount of money you’ve contributed.
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