What does it mean to be part of a parish?
“We had the experience about 11 years ago that our pastor was killed two weeks before Christmas. He was killed in a car wreck two weeks before Christmas. And I heard the news cause one of the musicians heard the news on the radio and she got up earlier than me and she called me about 5:30 in the morning. And he was back for the second time, was very well loved by everybody. He just was a gift to us. The parish was desolate. When I came over in the morning it was a Friday morning. It was the school liturgy morning. And I was getting ready. Came over to church to get ready for mass at 8:00 AM. And there were more than 150 people gathered in church. Not praying, just consoling each other like family. Just milling about consoling each other like it was our living room.
–Related to me by a 57 year old parishioner in trying to describe his parish and why they felt like family
What parish stories do you have? I’d love to hear them.