Saturday, April 13, 2013
What does the church parking lot say about the church?
Driving home from Mass this evening in our used mini van, I couldn't help but comment about the appearance of all the cars rolling out. A BMW and a Mercedes were next to us. Expensive cars all around us. Nothing unique was identifying any of these family vehicles as Catholic, or religious in any way. It looked no different than being at a high end shopping mall. I looked at the bulletin. Last Sunday, $44,394 was collected during the Sunday collection. $35,106 was the prior month's e-giving. This parish is pulling in over $2.7 Million dollars a year in collections. It has many wonderful people and the programs and services it offers are top notch. The other church we like to go to is not in a prestigious community. It is down town across the street from a scrap metal recycling center and homeless people are frequently walking along the street. Would you believe that almost every single car, and I am not exaggerating (well, most of them are vans, and many are the large 15 passenger vans which make our mini-van look like small potatoes)...the huge vast majority of vehicles are older, beat up, and have pro-life bumper stickers, Catholic Radio stickers, visible Catholic paraphernalia, Nobama health care signs, rosaries, etc. you name it... in or on their windows and bumpers. If you pass by one of these cars, you know you are dealing with someone who is a Fool For Christ and The Church. I have never seen a BMW in this parking lot. Last week's Easter collection was $8669. This church tithes over 7.5% of its weekly collection to St. Vincent de Paul and its very active pro-life committee. I love this church. I don't have to even tell you which one of the two has the longer confession lines...
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That is amazing! Ours has some pickup trucks but mainly older cars.
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