Everything you wanted to know

Why all the backslapping?

It used to be you could slip in and out of church without being noticed.

Unfortunately, in too many churches you still can. But in a growing number you have to run the gauntlet of hand shakers, huggers, and even a few kissers. What happened?

We've grown more aware of a lot of things. One, that you're important. We love you. We greatly appreciate your being with us. And we want to show it.

Second, that we are a family. God is the loving Father and Mother of us all. We are each sister and brother to one another. We don't want anyone to feel like a stranger among us.

Ideally, you'll walk in and spontaneously greet and, if needed, introduce yourself to the people sitting around you. If this doesn't happen spontaneously many parishes will invite people to do this as part of the introductory rite. Some even provide name tags so everybody automatically knows who everybody else is.

Third, we're in our family home for a meal. In homes family members greet each other. We're not in a self-service gas station where people anonymously pull in and out to fill up their tanks.

Someone has said you can tell how alive a parish is by the number of times you are greeted from the time you leave your car to the time Mass begins.

A growing number of parishes urge people not only to come back, but to stay awhile to enjoy fellowship over coffee and donuts. The smell of coffee is always better than the smell of incense in church. I doubt if there was incense at the Last Supper. But I bet there was some strong Middle-Eastern coffee.

Everything you ever wanted to know But thought you should already know, so didn't ask
By Fr. Ron Luka, CFM

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