Sunday 17 November 2013

A Dead Parish

One of the things we insisted on when beginning this blog two years ago was that we should meet face to face once a month. The meetings are fairly simple. We say the Little Office of the BVM, read a selection from St. Francis de Sales and have some discussion. Afterwards we go for breakfast. Since we mostly live some distance away from each other we have chosen to meet at St. Vincent de Paul parish. This is a mission parish run by the priests of the Oratory at Holy Family. Typically each time we meet someone has to chase after the priest in hopes of catching him before he gets into his car to return home to get the key to the meeting room. This month we failed and had to adjourn to a nearby restaurant for breakfast immediately after mass.

This brings up two questions. First of all, why do a group of men have to travel such distances, well over an hour for some of us, to find some sort of fellowship and community?  Why is this so rare? The other question is like the first in reverse. What has happened to the community at St. Vincent de Paul Church? Are we looking at the future of the Catholic Church in Toronto?

1 comment:

Vox Cantoris said...

I'M YELLING:

AN ABSOLUTELY UNFAIR, INAPPROPRIATE, AND UNWARRANTED ATTACK ON A PARISH, A CONGREGATION AND A PRIEST.

Did you let the priest know that you need the room?

Did you book it in advance?

Did you ask the custodian who was also serving at Mass?

I know, I was there.

I call on the editors of this blog to take this post down.

Pointless.

Nothing more than a puerile attack to justify someone's own lack of organisation and blame it on the priest.

Insane.