From Los Angeles: "Everything in flux is creative."

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Oct 11, 2005

Vibrant. Mission. Flux. Community.

Likewise voicing a sense of hope, presenter Dominican Sister Donna Ciangio noted that "everything in flux is creative." As director of Pastoral Services for the National Pastoral Life Center, Sister Ciangio stated, "My passion is the parish." Pope John Paul II, she pointed out, said much the same when he emphasized, "It is the parish which gives the church essential life."

Sister Ciangio described a vibrant parish community as one that has leadership, conversion, mission, hospitality and evangelization. Noting the problem of staffing and stretching present leadership too far, Ciangio asked, "Are we about mission or maintenance? A church doesn't have a mission. A mission has a church!"

Statistics on the Archdiocese taken from the 2005 Kenedy Directory reveal an archdiocesan picture both challenging and daunting. Of 288 parishes, archdiocesan priests staff 217. And of the 356 active archdiocesan priests, 110 (or nearly 31 percent) are between the ages of 60-75.

Translation: can't you be good sports and share the lie?