When my kids were small I used to read them Dr. Seuss’s ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book! When we came to the C page it went “Big C, Little c, C C C, what begins with C?” This ties in nicely with my last post, where I talked about why we need a church building.

There are two definitions for a church, one with a big “C” and one with a small “c”. To keep from getting too technical, a church with a small “c” is a building. A Church with a big “C” in it’s simplest form is the people who make up the church community. It can, and does, mean the local, national and worldwide Church. You don’t need a church to have a Church, but you do need a Church to have a church. (I bet you are wondering how many times I can use the word church in this post). 

The reason I am even bringing this up is that I mentioned how my parish is struggling with finances. One of the measures our pastor is taking is he is going to close one of our three church buildings for the winter. To keep this short, several years ago there were four parishes in town and they were consolidated into one. One church was closed, three remained open. The majority of the Masses are held at the biggest of the three remaining churches. Closing this for the winter would mean some serious savings in heat and electricity.

The question this brings up is what if they decide to not reopen it? If this was your parish and you needed to consolidate parishes and had to close one or more churches, would it make a difference to you? For the record, my pastor says it will reopen for Easter, but who knows? Closing a church or a parish has to be tough, especially for us old-timers. I have belonged to my Church all my life, except for a brief 30-year hiatus, and to suddenly need to go to a different church won’t be easy.  I have to admit there is an emotional attachment. But if it is necessary to save the parish then it should be done.

After all, it isn’t the church that makes the Church, it is the people that make the Church.

So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

New American Bible. (2011). (Revised Edition, Eph 2:19–22). Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Here is the answer: 22

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