The church has always held to the “grow where you are planted” rule, and is evidenced in number of churches that were built in communities; literally a church on every corner to discourage the practice of worshiping away from your neighborhood parish. I agree with you, however we are seeing Catholics in search of a parish they “like” more, a different pastor, different community vs. “growing” where you are.

Three years ago, we moved to Bristol, RI, a small town town on Narragansett bay in which I can walk to three Catholic churches within five blocks. And, if we had children in elementary school, they, too could walk!

When we moved, it was the first time I went to Mass every day - in the past, it may have been 2 or 3 times a week. It is wonderful! It makes such a difference in so many good ways. Our parish is filled with inspirational faith-filled people and they are now more like family. And, I love the bells ringing every day!

We lived 2 city blocks from our Parish church. We had a large number of boys who were eligible and eager to serve at Mass or be members of the choir. I cannot tell you how often my priests called and asked my brother or myself to come and serve Mass, or more often Benediction, as the assigned boy had failed to show up. Today, even at Sunday Mass, the sacristan often has to go into the church and ‘round up’ people to serve Mass. Today, there is a lack of boys eager to serve and even the girls who want to, depend upon their parents to get them to Mass. So this is another benefit of living close to the parish church.

I can attest to all these benefits having lived in walking distance from a church most of my life.  However, the trend in church building seems to be to buy a huge tract of land on a main road in the suburbs where no one can easily walk.  I’d like to see church’s remain in neighborhoods.

We live across the street from our church, and we are ALWAYS there! :)

This would be a wonderful thing to happen, if the parishes would get their acts together.  When it comes to sacred worship, most parishes are, frankly, total crap I would never take my family to on a regular basis.  This includes the parish I live closest to.  As a result, we drive to a very good parish for liturgy.

While we’re looking to buy near there for the very reasons you give here, it’s a shame that we have to do that.  Why can’t every single parish give the people the liturgy that the Church has provided for us as she wants it provided to us?

My husband and I dream of being able to move to the neighborhood our church is in.  A number of people in our parish do live close by.  It is tucked back in a a quiet neighborhood we didn’t know existed until we started attending Mass there.
  We could kick ourselves that we didn’t bother looking in that neighborhood when we bought our house 3.5 years ago, but we didn’t go to church at that time so the presence of a church wasn’t a consideration.  We currently live 1.5 miles from the church which is really nice.  If we hit the traffic lights right we can get there in 2 minutes, but if not it can take almost 10.  I’d love for my son to be able to walk to school either the parish school or the public school that is near the church.

In the Philippines, almost everywhere you live, you are bound to hear Church bells ringing out the dawn and dusk Masses or the Angelus. My family used to live near a Pink Sisters Convent. Now we live beside a Society of the Divine Word Seminary.
I love being able to visit the adoration chapel just around the corner!
Interestingly enough, one of the benefits would be the fact that its not just a parish but a seminary. Sometimes, the SVD priests have events and their Covered Court is right across our house. So if they have concerts or programs and the like, we can hear it for free! :)

I would love to live near our church, but it’s just not possible.  What we do have, that is wonderful, is a group of people from our parish in the nearby neighborhoods.  The are about five couples/families/singles who live within five minutes driving distance.  It makes it so much easier to get together, and strengthens our feelings of community when we do see each other at church (20 minutes away).

I’d like to see the issue of “attending the parish that you geographically belong to” raised first. It seems that so many Catholics shop a parish the same way they shop everything else, sometimes driving miles away and passing other parishes on their way to the parish of their choice - for better music, for better preaching, for a better CCD program, for their friends. This consideration obviously should be the first step in connecting people to the parishes closest to them. Imagine the good that could result in faithful people not only attending the parish nearest them, but also infusing that parish with their example, prayer, presence, and witness.

Our young family of 5 bought our first home in Sept 2011. We spent 6 months looking for a house near the parish/school we planned to attend, and even turned away from nice homes at a further distance. The Holy Spirit lead us to the perfect one that is .9 of a mile from our Church. We love it here!!

Our last move—two years ago—was made with the express purpose of living within walking distance of our church, and it’s one of the top three criteria we will apply if we should ever win the lottery and therefore be able to afford to purchase a house in the Washington, DC area.

Yes!!!  I’m moving soon and it would be awesome to be within walking distance of church!  If possible, I am definitely doing this!  I’ve had this on my mind before reading this article, but your post may help me with selling points for my husband.  Thanks for sharing!

When we moved to where we live now, my husband checked the map for local Parishes when we were house hunting. We found a house we loved and then went to check out the Parish. We *loved* it and its a little over a mile from our home - not quite walking distance, but close enough that we can zip over quite easily! We spend much time there and are actively involved with our children. It has become a focal part of our lives - not just somewhere we go to Mass on Sundays. It has changed our family in the most beautiful and positive ways!

Alas, we live within four blocks of the local Catholic Church, to which we belonged for over fifteen years. However we have found our church home 30 miles away. It was a huge issue for us, because we love being geographically close to the church and want easy access, however, we live in a diocese that is very troubled and we need orthodox Catholicism, not a constant assault on it - hence the commute.

We live about 3/4 of a mile from our church.  Close enough that when we are outside, we can hear the bells.  Close enough that yesterday I sent my 13 year old over on his bike to help get ready for Vacation Bible School, and my other daughter is there now where she can walk home.  My kids walked home from the parish school nearly every day.  I can definitely say our involvement has been stronger and that the church is more a part of our life.  I walk to daily Mass a couple of times a week.  While we should walk to Mass on Sunday, we usually are more dressed up and I can’t walk in dress shoes.  But if we want to linger and talk to our friends and the kids are anxious to get home, they head home on their own.  The funny thing was that when we bought the house, I had no idea the church/school was even within walking distance.  We were coming from out of state and only had a few hours to buy a house - the Holy Spirit defintely came to aid us in this decision!  The church and the neighborhood we live in were developed simultaneously in the late 1960’s.  In the past, all the parishioners were within a couple of miles, but now many of them drive from much farther away to attend the school.  We have had 4 sets of friends from the school who have recently bought houses within a block of the parish as the empty nesters move out.  There is a trade-off in that the houses are not “new” and are smaller than the ones in the newer suburbs, but you make up for that in convenience and less stress.  I’m all for it!

I grew up in a neighborhood that existed around the parish church across the street from my house. I missed the glory days of the parish neighborhood, which started to unravel in the early 80s. But my older siblings and parents, particularly, benefitted hugely from living in a Catholic parish neighborhood. My mom was far less isolated at home as a SAHM than I have been. She had extended family and other Catholic families with whom she could socialize and her children could play.

Tim Drake, you’ve taken the words right out of my mouth, though I do take Ryan Ellis’s point as well.  You’re both right.  The Sacraments are not commodities, and our parishes are not Wal Mart.  BUT.  In quite a few places, there is very little reverence for the liturgy.  As for myself, I attend both the EF and OF—I attend the EF once every month since I’ve moved away, and when I attended regularly, I would often attend Sunday Vigil in the OF and Sunday Mass in the EF (because I lived within walking distance of many churches, actually, being in downtown Philadelphia).  I don’t pit the one against the other, and it’s attending the EF that allowed me to better appreciate the OF.  I often take what I learned from going to the EF and plug it into the OF and watch the EF unpack the OF, even if awful music, or bad architecture, or felt banners, or a combination of all of the above, means that I’m “offering it up” and trying to pray the Mass through my teeth.  That’s when you find that focusing on the Crucifix can give you a lot of strength.

Sometimes, traveling to another parish every now and again can clue you into these things in a good way, provided that you don’t forsake your home parish, just because another parish provides what is so sorely lacking and what you hunger for.  But staying in your home parish and humbly getting involved (being a strong advocate, though not necessarily an activist) does provide good witness and will attract others.  It’s probably the only effective way along with prayer—and getting like-minded people to chat with and pray with over such matters—if you want to “make things happen,” if it were, because so many people can get so touchy about things (some folks, after all, will complain about a priest who is chanting the Mass, because they think that chanting the Mass makes it “take longer”).  Furthermore, these things do take time:  think of how much sacred music got hollowed out and essentially eviscerated with the “Spirit” of Vatican II over the last 40 years.  Reconnecting and reengaging with and rebuilding what we’ve lost can only happen slowly, but surely, because it does take a lot of thought and prayer as well as heart to not only not lose heart, but also to win other people over. 

And it often happens in little, but not undetectable ways:  our parish is a more modern parish, though our priests are orthodox.  There is not as much sense of reverence as there could be, though there is enthusiasm for things like parish missions.  So it’s funny how parishes can be a mix of stuff that’s good that we need more of, and yet stuff that ain’t so great.  But during Lent, a visiting Monsignor held a parish mission that dealt with the Sacraments, Mary, and Jesus, and ultimately put the Eucharist front and center on the last day:  yep, he brought out the Real Presence as not only the star of the show, and the climax, so to speak, but the real heavy hitter.  As he should have.  One should expect no less for the Source and Summit of the Christian life.  But even better:  Benediction was done in Latin, there was incense, and all of the priests wore their cassocks, and those assisting Monsignor wore surplices.  While not everyone in the parish are clamoring for more Latin, there are indeed some people who are, apparently, and who have been saying that all of it was so beautiful.

This article stirs up memories of a childhood/young adult years spent walking to and fro our local parish.  They are warm and comforting memories.  However, I know many young families who travel various distances to reach certain parishes because of the priests who are there.  If they were to move to be nearer these churches, they would have to sell homes on frequent intervals, as they either follow the priests to their next assignment or find new churches when priests leave for distant posts.

As we were sitting around our patio last Saturday with friends and family, we heard the bells ringing, calling folks to 5:30 p.m. Mass.  A real spirit of joy swept through the group as people began to talk of the beauty of the sound and of childhood memories of hearing the bells when folks often lived closer to their parish church.  What a blessing that God brought us to this home 21 years ago.

The next time I move it will be with the priority of moving closer to church. I would LOVE to walk to church. And I hadn’t thought of hearing the bells, how nice to hear the Angelus!

Great article!

I totally agree with this and would LOVE to be within walking distance. Here’s the most important reason: driving through traffic to get there destroys one’s recollection, or certainly can. And because most parishes are filled with people who no longer pray before Mass, but chit-chat so that no one else can pray either, the result is that it is difficult to be recollected—well-disposed—for Mass. One must sit in the car and try to collect oneself! Being recollected makes a HUGE difference in the effects of Mass and Communion in one’s soul. The graces are objectively there, but one’s growth depends greatly on one’s own dispositions.

When I was looking for a home a few years ago, I decided that it needed to be just 4 blocks in any direction from our parish church and school and we managed to purchase the home just across the street from the church and rectory.  I am so thankful.  My older sons don’t love the bells, especially on Marian feasts and other major feasts, but I certainly do.  It’s so funny too that my middle son’s friends don’t park in front of our house when they pick him up, but they park in front of the church and phone him to come out.

Thank you so much for writing about this!

I wish moving close to our (or any) parish were an option, for all these reasons. My one consolation: the Methodist church around the corner from us has lovely bells.

I was just reflecting yesterday on how our choice of a home (a “starter home” that I only envisioned living in for 5 years at the most) has affected our lives so much. 15 years later, we’re still here (thanks to the real estate market) and can’t imagine living anywhere else, mostly due to the proximity to our parish.
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When we moved here, sure, we knew there was a church a block away, but we were still attending my home parish 20 minutes away. But gradually we felt an unmistakable call to put down roots at our local parish. Honestly it’s not been the easiest for me personally (I don’t have a strong sense of belonging there), for my family, it’s borne great fruit. Especially for my husband, who was never involved in any kind of ministry at our old parish (too big for him)...he’s now about to enter his fourth and final year of formation for the permanent Diaconate. We’ll be living close to our parish for a good long time…

I think a lot of people who say, “Yes! We live so close! It only takes five minutes to drive there!” are missing the point. There is a profound and fundamental difference between living *in walking distance and walking to church*, and driving to church.

This is one of the many reasons I became a priest. So I could live next to Church.

Time Drake, I agree with you in so many ways.  Our problem is the gross liturgical abuses that go on at our home parish simply anger us too much to attend there regularly.  So we attend the church across town in the neighborhood we can’t live in because it is too dangerous.  I know that makes us hypocrites of the worst kind but I want my kids to grow up in a parish family that is alive with the faith - and not full of old ladies trying to jostle for the first spot out the door after communion.  I know of many families who have tried to make it work at this particular parish.  One family spoke with the priest about the other priest’s ‘boyfriend’ and their concerns and his reaction - “What they did wasn’t illegal!”  Well that helps clarify things, thank you.  They couldn’t bring themselves to Mass there anymore and I don’t blame them one bit!

In an ideal world, one would go to the parish geographically closest to them.  My husband and I wish we could!

The number of reasons we can’t are too numerous to mention here (and probably unChristian to mention as well), but we feel our spiritual life is better served by attending Mass at the parish 10 minutes away. 

It’s most important that you make it a priority to be active in your parish - and if purposefully living within walking distance is what aids you, then great.

My husband is the high school youth minister at a parish 30 minutes away from where we live. Since I’m living the opposite of what you’re proposing, I DEFINITELY agree with you! We’re planning on moving, but waiting for the right house—VERY close to the church. St. Joseph pray for us!

I would love to belong to the parish closest to my home, but the parishes that surround us are served by monks from a liberal monastery who promote laxness and teach against the magisterium.  For more than 15 years we tried to fit in, but after years of dealing with false teaching, especially as part of our children’s sacramental preparation, we found we had to leave to avoid further scandalizing our children.

It is not ideal.  We must drive 20 miles to our parish, and we can never really fit in since we are not part of the local community, but I don’t see a better choice.

It is one thing as adults to “ride out” the ongoing scourge of liberal Catholicism that appears to, hopefully, be dying out.  It is another to expose our children in their formative years to lies and misrepresentation of the faith in a diocese where the bishop permits these transgression to continue year after year.  Our children have no context to realize that what they hear from the ambivalent priest, or the feminist, greenpeace DRE is not the true teaching of our faith.  They are simply perplexed and wonder how the Catholic church can herself be so confused.

We live within 1.5 miles of our Church; and drive by it on our way home from work everyday.  The thing is - we have lived here for nearly 23 years and just started going to our Church in 2010.  Converting to Catholicism has been such a joyous experience for far more reasons than thre is blog space in the universe. We’d have done it no matter what but…being that we found a gorgeous parish filled with the Holy Spirit so close to home, made the decision all the easier.

And it has enriched our lives, beyond the return to faith, the conversion, etc… It is about the parish community and yes, living so closely reallly does make a huge difference.

We live 5 houses, 1/2 a block away form our “geographical” parish.  We attended there for. 7 years and my husband and I and our children were all heavily involved.  Served on the faith formation commission, board of Ed., sang in choirs, served, and attended many of the social functions offered.  Our children actually walked to the school for 4 years.  All of this came to an end when we couldn’t take the liturgical abuses/dumbing down of our beautiful Catholic faith anymore and Our fighting with charity fell on deaf ears.  Some examples of what we were struggling with, irreverence of the Eucharist, downplay of the Sacraments, no Crucifix, banners, no bells because of too many complaints from other neighbors, lay people giving homilies, confession only 30 minutes on Saturdays, no daily Mass on tues and Thursday’s, and this is just a tip of the iceberg!  After attending another parish 20 minutes away for aBible study we felt at home.  So, after 3 months of attending Mass at this parish and not having a SINGLE person/friend from our local parish ask if we were ok, we decided it was time to switch.  It felt odd to actually drive at first,but ironically, we are now always on time for Mass, attend daily Mass more frequently, have a weekly Adoration hour, get to confession monthly(since it’s offered daily and before all Masses!), and have finally been asked to be a sponsor couple.  We feel our Catholic faith has deepened more and are eager to learn more because of the Priest and fellow parishioners in the last 6 months as opposed to the seven years at our geographical parish.  so be sure to know the parish before you make a move! 

This is so absolutely true, about being more involved in your parish the closer it is to your house.  We used to live within 5 minutes of our local church and regional Catholic school.  We were there often and were much more involved.  Now, it takes far more planning and we have to budget for gas even.  There are two smaller parishes, both around 9 miles from us, but they do not offer that much for youth so we find ourselves driving 13 miles each way to a larger parish.  It’s far more complicated than it used to be.

The Heberts are my family.  Denae is my daughter.  We did not live within walking distance of the parish Denae grew up in, but within 5 driving minutes and in a community that was largely Catholic with a neighborhood school that was public, but very faith and family friendly.  This did lend to our active participation in our church family.  Our entire social life was with the church.  The friends Denae had were from the church, as were ours.  We only have three children, but all are married with children and active in the Catholic church.  Most of our friends and the friends Denae grew up with are also active in the church.  We have been blessed and I do believe that the close proximity to the church did assist in that.

Tim Drake, you would probably be appalled at what our family has done for the last 10 years or so, and that is to move from one parish to another in order for our sons to be exposed to reverent worship, holy priests, the teachings of the Magesterium, Benediction and Adoration, frequent confession, etc.  When our eyes were opened more than a decade ago that the Catholic parish we were attending was not following the teachings of the Church, we had to find a place to worship so that our sons would know what it means to be Catholic.  Until the situation changes, we will drive past 2 or 3 other parishes to get to one that is truly Catholic.  We just recently learned that the parish we moved to 3 years ago will be closed by our archdiocese, we will begin again to find a new parish.  There is a church about a mile away on a busy street, not really walkable, but this pastor there consecrates the wine in a glass pitcher and pours the Precious Blood into glass “chalices” for Holy Communion.  When I spoke to him about it after a Saturday morning Mass, he yelled at me.  SIGH.  We will not be going to that parish.  As Mike posted, we can’t sit around while our children are being scandalized by unfaithful “Catholics”.

We grew up in the city and the parish was the anchor of the community. After many years of work and communing to church by car we are buying a home two blocks from church. The sellers of the house are a Christian family and were delighted to have a family who attend a nearby parish buy the house.

We ended up in this neighborhood after we had lost our house and cars and job. We were offered a rental from a neighbor of my daughter who is a parish member and is in the service. My children are helping us in the purchase and we have many close friends and we are known as Grammi & Pa to all the kids. We are blessed to have a neigborhood and a parish.

We live about 8 miles from our parish church.  Was great until our Catholic pastor retired and we got a “priest” who would make Nancy Pelosi look conservative.  Now we drive about 30 miles to Mass every Sunday.

Everybody keeps talking about how they can’t go to their geographical parish because it’s scandalous. Even so: then let’s move to the parish that is not scandalous! We need “ethnic communities”, if “ethnic” means “Catholic”.
It is nothing short of prideful vanity—I hear it said often—that one must avoid so-called Catholic ghettoes and live among “the culture” to leaven it from within. For this is only true insofar as one is also willing to live in a so-called ghetto.

What happens, O brave missionary, when you make a convert in the middle of “the culture”? You are now two, and you are now a community. What if the love you two share is noticed by another, and he makes a third? You have become a ghetto! Should you then disperse so as not to seem like a ghetto?

But this is what Christianity is, and always has been, since Acts Chapter 4: a ghetto. There is nothing wrong with living in a Catholic ghetto, provided that the borders of that ghetto are permeable.

Here’s what this could look like

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/3922/transforming-a-suburban-church-into-a-neighborhood/

We live in a society that suffers from an epidemic of secularism and relativism. United we stand and divided we fall. My Christianity makes me a better father and citizen. Living with a sense of neighborhood is more valuable to a family and society. The facade of materialism was a sham and when by the grace of God it collapsed, it gave me a freedom to better my relationship with Christ. I know my neighbors and some of their concerns. My parish community is alive and well. We are nourished by our fellow Christians. Stop and sincerely see Christ in the neighborhood ghetto. With God with us who can be against us?

Great article.  Three points jump out at me from the comments. 

(1) The Sacraments aren’t commodities to be shopped for; true, very true.  But I think your diagnosis is a little off.  We parish “consumers” only want to buy what the Church is selling—the problem is that most of the parishes aren’t “selling” that.  So we go where it’s available.  If you say “well who decides,” then I just point to Redemptionis Sacramentum and fifty other documents issued in the last decade trying to correct the manifold problems plaguing parishes and schools—are those documents addressed to me, Joe Parishioner?  And I also think this criticism of parish-shopping is too close to the pay, pray and obey model of parishioners.  What am I supposed to do, get ordained and do everything correctly myself?  I’m not one to criticize a priest—I’d rather just sigh and move on.  Our faith is worth fighting and dying for, but not worth in-fighting for.

(2) Ryan Ellis’s point about going where the getting’s good.  This makes the most sense to me as a father of young children.  I’m just not ready to re-educate my kids after Mass and the other sacraments.  Plus, I want to go where I can build an intentional community with others like me, where we can take our love of what the Church is “selling” and make that the one thing we have in common, bridging over all the other differences in our professions, family set-ups, and so on. 

(3) As to the being within close driving distance (only three miles away!), you’re doing it wrong.  I mean, that is laudable, and good for you, but this article’s not specifically about you.

(sigh) yes.yes. yes.  I lived up the street from our church for years.  We could literally walk to *everything* including mass, catechism, the schools, three parks, the movie theater, market,cafes, fine dining, boutiques,the cupcake store, Coffee house, art galleries, redwood forest and the town square.  When we drove into that gem of a village, after crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, the first thing I noticed was the big gilded cross on the church steeple, presiding over the entire town. I looked at my husband and said “I could REALLY see us living here”...after our years in our little house on the hill, we briefly moved into a beautiful house in the woods, four times the size of our ridiculously small “in-town” house, but it just.wasn’t.the.same…(sigh)Homesick. The downside..?  Just 15 minutes away from SF’s financial district DIDN’T make it “big family” friendly $.  We were an oddity. Big families get exiled to the burbs.

I drive 10 minutes every week to an EF Mass and our parish also has the best Faith Formation in town - which isn’t saying much.  We tried to bloom where we were planted - after all there are 3 parishes within 1&1/2 miles of our house - but it just didn’t work.  I still have ties to one of the parishes, but they no longer have a school.  It has been combined with 3 other parishes into 1 big school that I just don’t care for.  Hopefully someday I can move to be closer to the parish we attend.

One of the reasons - BTW - that I don’t attend at least 2 of the parishes by my house is I have heard outright heresy preached from the pulpits!  I will not expose my children to that when the priests aren’t willing to work with us or change things!

We had lived near the parish church the last 12 yrs and we really enjoyed it. It helped in bringing up the family. All that is mentioned in this post is true. sometimes we also take living near the church for granted as well. Going to church often becomes a routine without digging deep into the real purpose or why we do this everyday.

We had to relocate away from the church after the house we had been renting was going to be sold. We then soon found out how lucky we were when we found out the cost people had been paying to come to church, the faith they had and also their commitment.

We really missed the opportunity we had, we are also very grateful for the experiences we en-counted while living far away from church. We are moving back in after our latest experiences as 1 of our children attend high school and 2 in primary school and 1 now teaches in the same church school. Thank you Jesus for enabling us to see and experience the difference

It would be nice to go to my local parish.  But due to liturgical abuse and constant complaining by the parish priest and others in the parish regarding Catholic teachings and Church hierarchy, I made the decision to drive 35 miles to a parish where I no longer have to worry about those things.  Being within walking distance to one’s parish is wonderful; but as others have stated, sometimes you just have to make the hard decision to go elsewhere.

Ha! We can walk to our church in about 10 minutes, but we regularly get in the car and drive 20 minutes to a different church.

I suspect it’s because we don’t have any friends at the church—probably because many of the people who go there don’t live in walking distance (it’s the Cathedral for our diocese, so, that’s not so surprising). We do know the Priests but it’s not a very family-centered parish in terms of programs and most of the moms who are associated with the parish also work, so there’s no Mother’s group.

This is not to say we never go to our parish church, we do, just not every Sunday.

We used to live three blocks from church.  It was wonderful.  The neighborhoods we lived in were not safe though.  When we started having children we decided to move to a more family friendly neighborhood.  We have to drive now, but I feel safe letting my children play outside, etc.

Question—Are we required to attend the parish closest to us?  I thought it was just that we were supposes to pick one in our area and stick with it (so our time and money are being devoted to one parish).

My parents and I have to drive to church since we live too far away to do so. 
However I can say I work across the street from a church in downtown DC so I can go there whenever I’m working on a weekend.  It’s wonderful to end the work day with the Lord…Plus I can hear the bells ringing throughout the day.

Great article!  I agree with Fr. Weldon above.  I love being a priest just to be close to the church and the Blessed Sacrament.  And the bells(real bells), which are often dedicated to and named after patron saints, not only call to prayer, but also drive away demons.  Amen!
Also, communities are meant to be built around churches… Catholic churches!  Unfortunately, the modern trend is to build churches away from population centers for… convenience(?)  Instead, let’s restore our churches to their former glory and adorn them with the Traditional Latin Mass, so as to revitalize and repopulate the urban areas.

Oh, to be so close to the Most Blessed Sacrament again!  How I miss that.

It is my understanding that years ago, you were required to attend church based on where you lived. Was that true or not?  I am very grateful that the Catholic Church in my neighborhood is very traditional and orthodox.  It saddens me when people shop for a church based on status and/ or other secular reasons. I PRAY that I can always walk to a Catholic church and/or end my life in a Catholic nursing home with daily mass.

We live about a 30 second walk from our parish school, probably a full minute from the actual church.  Everything listed here is true.    Right now though, I confess that being close to the parish school is more important to our family than being close to church.  Particularly during baseball season, since we’re blessed to have a school field, which is literally in our backyard.    Anything that cuts down on driving is a beautiful thing.

Canonically speaking, a Catholic should belong to the parish closest to their geographical region. 

How do I know this?  About three years ago, my family was is a bind.  Our parish was notoriously liberal, and our parish priest had a dim view of marriage, and had counseled couples to use contraception, all but refuted the Dogma of the Trinity, and other issues (including not validly consecrating the Host, and thus not really celebrating Holy Mass).  At that time, two holy, orthodox and wonderful priests moved into the area…outside of our geographical location.  We sojourned to those parishes occasionally (our excuse was believable: at the time, our parish—despite being rather large—had only one Mass on Sundays, and an early one which wasn’t entirely possible for us to get to).  Then, one of those holy priests was transferred to a parish close to our home…but not our parish.

After consultation with that priest, he informed me that canonically, I could choose which parish our family could belong to: our current parish was an “ethnic parish”, and thus anyone who was of that ethnicity had a canonical right to belong to that parish, despite where they lived; the parish he was assigned to was technically our home parish due to our geographical location.  My wife and I prayed about it and exercised our canonical rights by switching to our geographical parish.  We have truly entered into a vibrant parish community, and met many like-minded families.  However, if that canonical option didn’t exist, I wouldn’t have moved.

We are blessed to live just across the street (well, almost) from our good, orthodox parish—around 5-7 minutes walking distance.  The problem is, I’m not comfortable walking across the busy thoroughfare that separates our residential area from the church.  So I end up driving.
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My teen daughter still likes walking to the church, though, to visit Our Lord freely on her own.  Because of church proximity, she didn’t always have to wait for me to go, which was nice.  Unfortunately, a man started following her one day as she left the church.  Thankfully, she was able to lose him. 
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At another time, an older man, who it seemed was also at the church to make a visit, approached her while she was in prayer and tried to befriend her in strange way.  She naturally felt fearful.  Luckily, he left, but not before giving her a piece of paper with his phone number on it.
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We live in the suburbs.  But because of these 2 incidents, we unfortunately had to have our dd make her spiritual communions/visits from home instead for her safety. She can go freely, though, to visit on Adoration Day (which is once a week in our parish), since Our Lord cannot be left alone, and a familiar, assigned adorer is always there.
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Though the benefits of living near our parish is huge, there are still times when we cannot always do some of the things we’d like to do.

I love the idea of being able to live within walking distance. It’s not so uncommon for older people with the same race as me to buy homes within a few blocks of where they worship even in America. Back in the motherland, in the villages, most people would go to Mass in the morning and in the evening daily. There would also be prayers said in groups there and that includes the Rosary.
The parish life was very vibrant.

I had purchased a set of back your chimes that sound like church bells ringing for that very reason. I was to far away to hear them from my church. It was also a reminder to everyone around me that God was ever present. If you could only hear them early in the morning when the breeze would begin to blow. Simply lovely! A little more expensive then the littler ones, but worth every penny.

Living next door to a church is not everything you know.  I live within 100 metres of my Church and have been attending it for some eighteen years.  However, a fairly recent change of priest in charge has started to rankle and the rankling is getting worse by the week.  The priest (actually our sub-parish is administered by Franciscan monks) puts on a recording of the Holy Rosary and comes and sits in the pews to answer the CD with the congregation, instead of leading us in its recitation from the pulpit.  He always cuts the recording just before the Litany of Our Lady starts too.  This same priest has discovered hi-tech gadgets and during elevation uses his MP3 or 4 or whatever to play what is meant to be meditative background music.  Thing is, the supposedly background music is loud enough to actually interfere with recollection and prayer at this most vital part of Mass.  We have a rather loud, tinkly fountain inside the actual church.  The effect of the falling water is to make you want to go to the bathroom.  This would all be very well were it not for the fact that the bathroom is kept securely locked and you have to march right across the church to get the key from the sacristy before being able to pay a visit.  Of course, it goes without saying that to get the key you have to run a gauntlet of eyes, the owners of whom know exactly where you’re going and why.  As from this year, the priest has also changed something which has always been enjoyed by this little community; up till last year, shortly after Easter, the priests would, over a period of weeks, go from door-to-door, entering the houses of those who welcomed them in order to bless the houses and their occupants. We knew from at least a week beforehand when our road was due to be blessed and thus could make arrangements to be at home in order to welcome our priests into our spic-and-span house.  Not so any more - now we have to leave our mobile numbers on a list in the sacristy and the priests will only go out to bless the houses of those who have left their phone numbers.  Oh and you’re told when you’re due only on the eve.  I’m still waiting to get my call and we’re in June now.  The inside of the church has become positively festooned with forests of migrating indoor plants which seem to get more exercise than I do, given that they are found to be occupying a different spot every day, or every time I go to the church, at any rate.  Their mobility always puts me in mind of Macbeth’s Birnam Wood which, the witches had foretold, would move to Dunsinane.  This, when I should be in an environment which should conduce me to other, more important things.  To be sure, the monk is a holy, simple, soul and has recently celebrated his fortieth anniversary of being called to the priesthood.  On an individual level he is a very nice person and I bear him no personal animosity whatsoever but I do find all the things that I’ve mentioned (and there are more which I have not) to be very trying and to be the cause of needles, petty aggravation.  I do not wish to speak to him face to face because if I do and he shrugs off my problems as unimportant or petty, the aggravation will become that much worse.  Neither do I wish to report him to my bishop because I feel that that would be sort of stabbing him in the back.  I live in a tiny seaboard community of around 600 people and we live in each other’s pockets.  The ripples of an ‘unrequieted’ complaint would continue to resonate and possibly give rise to greater, more widespread trouble a little down the line.  This is where ‘shopping’ for another church close by becomes a consideration. At least as far as I am concerned.

Sorry. Meant to write PEPIN the Short, not Pepein.

The first 3 rules of good real estate is location,location, location!
This should probably be adopted as a good rule for Catholics when selecting their home/parish. Saves on gas too! My husband and I are blessed in our retirement to live within walking distance of our Church.
It does have “issues” but Christ is still actively within a 5 minute walk. Probably all parishes have “issues” but unless they are of such
a serious nature as to be more harmful than good, consider oneself fortunate to be so near your place of worship. We have never been so involved in parish life as now that we live nearby.

Yep especially if TEOTWAWKI hits then it would be better to be closer to the Church within walking distance.  EMP blast wouldn’t allow cars to work (sun storms too could do this) etc.

The bells to say the Angelus (a prayer we as Catholics should do but since we have dropped 99% of great traditional Catholic things, we don’t anymore. Sad). 

Great write up!  As I told my men’s prayer group who likes to act like protestants & eat meat of Fridays & drop their Catholic beliefs so not to ‘offend’ the one protestant that comes.  Dadgumit lets be Catholic!!

We don’t have church bells. And while it is only a five minute drive (20 plus minutes during evening rush out…in bad weather…OR on a Friday/holiday weekend in the dead of summer.

What normally would be a five minute walk for most people would take me over an hour.

@STEVE.  You are incoherent.  Your middle sentence doesn’t go anywhere.  Your TEOTWAWKI may look like a Greek word thrown in in an offhand, casual and learned way but actually simply means ‘the end of the world as we know it’.  What are you gabbling on about?  Is this how you communicate in your men’s prayer group?

Highly recommend it!

anna lisa—you wrote:
@“Angela”, yes, my MIL was abused when she CHOSE to have an illicit relationship with her brother-in-law, as a teenager.  As bitter as she is, she would NEVER blaspheme God, or make a mockery of Christ crucified.  That has only one hateful source.
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I have just lost my last shred of respect for you. No wonder you worship the agony of a man nailed to a crucifix. Your comment disgusts me. I feel sorry for your kids to have a mother who has so little compassion. May they be gay atheists when they grow up.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jennifer-fulwiler/a-catholic-ponders-the-global-atheist-convention/#ixzz1x9KCj9yi

Hi Rita/Angela/Juanita/Stella More, no worries my fuzzy little troll pet, I haven’t forgotten you dear one, no worries (scratching you behind the fuzzy ear) :)

Where I live, our parish church’s bells ring out every quarter hour over the whole area—you can hear them many blocks away. They are a constant reminder of our good God.

Housing law curiosity: realtors cannot mention if a specific church is near a house or apartment in a real estate ad, or they risk violating anti-discrimination rules.

This means that it’s a little less likely that a churchgoer will move near to church.

So those of you who live near a church should keep an eye out for “for sale” signs and e-mail the info to your friends or post it to your facebook. Let people know how great it would be for a churchgoing family. Or even invite a lukewarm Catholic family to move in, in hopes that they’ll benefit from the community.

Jennifer, when we bought our home in 2011 we did NOT live close to church…church moved close to us, literally!  Our parish moved their building about a mile from its original location to a plot of land that happens to be mere blocks from here.  We also got a bell tower.  Hearing those bells is so wonderful.  It truly does turn my thoughts to God on an hourly basis. 

Here’s the article about the church move!  http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/1954901-418/church-building-hougan-street-truck.html

The proximity of a church to one’s dwelling place is really a great thing. I have built my house in 1970 in Hyderabad, India. There was no nearby church. It so happened that the priest who used to come to say Sunday mass for the neighbourhood, in a Govt. School told me that if some suitable land was available it could be bought and a church constructed by the Missionaries of Francis de Sales. I could locate a suitable three acre plot and after negotiations it was bought and a church was built.  From that day in 1974, I have been regular for the morning Mass. Only those who experience the facility can understand the great grace and blessings. Ever since then, I was very active in St Vincent de Paul Society and could do lot. Also I have helped the priests in accounting and allied works. I feel the proximity helps our children grow in better christian atmosphere

its really true brothren. . .

I agree about the desirability of living near your parish. Walking distance would be great. I enjoyed that for four years when I was studying theology in Austria, and we lived just 2 miles (walkable in nice weather) when we lived in Wyoming.

On the other hand…

The parish in question has to be worth moving to. And the area has to be affordable.

As it is, we drive 45 minutes and pass numerous Catholic churches on the way to our parish. We could not afford to move any closer without living in a bad neighborhood, and even then we’d have to drive.

Not surprisingly, there is a Catholic barn, oops I mean church, less than a mile from our house. If we don’t go there it’s because we a) feel driven out because of the lameness of the liturgy, homilies, music, architecture, catechism, and the lack of devotions, confessions, etc.; b) we don’t want our kids to grow up with ugliness and emptiness and with parents leaving Holy Mass irate and disappointed as part of their Sunday experience.

People may encourage folks like me to attend their local parish, but I will drive 45 minutes to get to a beautiful liturgy, hear an excellent homily, and become friends with priests who WANT to hear confessions, lead Rosaries, conduct eucharistic adorations, wear cassocks in public, obey the Pope, respect the bishop, and form my children in the faith. People may say that folks like me are why parishes like Toaster Tabernacle Catholic Community are so lame and things would get better if people like us stayed. Believe me, they don’t want us pestering them for confessions, devotions, and a little Latin, keeping to ourselves during the Sign of Peace, not holding their hands during the Our Father, kneeling to receive Holy Communion, and praying after Mass instead of jabbering with our pals. Their Hospitality Ministry avoids folks like us like the plague.

I wish we could live nearer to our parish. BUT on the other hand, I also feel REALLY let down that parishes that are closer aren’t worth living near. It shouldn’t matter, but it does.

“anna lisa—now you are showing your true self—a homophobic, selfish heartless, victim-blaming, shallow Catholic. I don’t have to start a bile storm—every one will see your comments as they are.”
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This is why she is a troll.

I grew up two blocks away from my parish, and now, (in a different state) we live seven minutes away, door to door.  We’ve considered moving to get more land for the kids, but in the end, we spend so much time at the parish, and I’m afraid we wouldn’t spend as much time ther if we moved.

We live on Church property - drive 25 minutes to another Church. Received approval to do so. Our hope is we will be able to go to the Church we live next to some day. But for the sake of avoiding sacrilege that will hurt our Faith and that of our families we were happy to be allowed entry into another Parish. That’s the narrow road, that’s a cross. Jesus - God had a very tough road not preaching in his own temple. Sometimes when I read stories like this I think people live in a world of blinders - so much difficulty the faithful endure and then we have this “nice” talk about the Church next door. A larger perspective is good when presenting ideas. God must have known those who needed to have the Church next door. Personally most of our neighbors drive 30 minutes to daily mass - thank them for their sacrifice.

Angela,Rita,Stella More, gay bro. sock puppets: Why do you use a lie to promote your cause (as if anyone actually is buying in to your suffering Jesus/Saint bashing rant)?  In using my true name “anna lisa”, above, and posting my name as if I wrote what *you* wrote, you simply confirm your status as a liar. That is more than sad.  Own it.  Also, you have to realize something:  If someone is so evil as to spit upon Christ crucified, and spits on me too? :) :) :) Nice! Thank you. I got to suffer (okay, not so much!) in *HIS* service. Delighted.  Thanks be to God.

Our parish is far flung, partly because it’s a farming area and partly because our priest is so darn awesome. The distance people have to travel adversely affects parish life.

I do worry about “Catholic neighborhoods”, though. It’s too easy for folks to start keeping score on who goes to daily mass enough, who fights with their spouse too loudly, who has enough children, etc.

We are looking at moving and proximity to our parish is one of the requirements. Some days I question that, as I get a little more involved and knowledgeable. Really not a fan of knowing who gets along with whom and who doesn’t!