I’ve talked before about our little parish here in Ohio. It really is an amazing place, and I have been truly blessed to spend the better part of the last ten years “turning Catholic” here, getting married here, working here, and now, raising children here.
The diocesan paper did a center-page write-up about this little parish, the parish that one of my dear friends calls “the little parish that could,” and maybe it’s not wise to share it here, but we really do have an amazing parish, and maybe you’d like to read about it. If so, click here. (If that link doesn’t work, click here for the print archive and choose June 15.)
I think the difference here stems from Eucharistic Adoration, though you could attribute the small town flavor, the tight-knit community, and a hundred other things as the reason. Last Friday, as a group of volunteers spoke with the editor and the reporter from the newspaper, we realized that everyone in the room had a weekly hour of Adoration. In fact, I realized, sitting there, that everyone on our parish staff has at least one hour (our priest has at least five that I know about).
No one believed that our little parish of less than 300 families (we’re closer to 400 now) could pull off perpetual Eucharistic Adoration – at least 50 hours for the last seven years. And yet, by the grace of God and because, I’m sure, the last coordinator put it all in the Blessed Mother’s hands, we have and we do.
Enough about Adoration. Or is it? If you want to get Adoration started at your parish, leave a comment or email me. I would be happy to tell you the path we followed, including inviting a priest to come and preach about it (his name is Father DeLuca). It’s a lot of work, I won’t kid you there. But it’s SO worth it…the blessings are endless and the benefits…eternal. 🙂
