As the Parish Goes, so Goes the Family

The family is in crisis. Is it time to look to parishes for greater support?

Religion and family are strongly intertwined. Indeed, some social scientists argue that as the family goes, so goes religion (Wilcox, 2005; Eberstadt, 2013). In other words, the family factor is the independent variable most responsible for the decline in religious participation.

Why is this so? Because, as the above argument suggests, as the institution of the family has deteriorated over the past fifty years, religion has declined respectivelyat least in terms of regular participation in mainline churches. (Not all churches have declined, but many have, including the Archdiocese of Detroit's fourteen percent decline between 2000 and 2014.) Pope Francis, in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (2013), expresses a similar concern when he states, The family is experiencing a profound cultural crisis, as are all communities and social bonds (no. 66).

Given this situation of the family in crisis, I suggest the parish needs to live out its life in God even more intensely. In other words, the local parish needs to take the lead in rejuvenating the family and so reverse the variables above, so that the Church can begin to say: As local religion goes, so goes the family.

Privatization of Family

The as local religion goes, so goes the family thesis argues that local parishes must ratchet up their parish offerings for all age groups within the parish, rather than cut back offerings (easier said than done, I realize). Sociologists have argued that since the processes of suburbanization started in the 1940s and 1950s, the family has become more privatized and nuclear, which has led to greater disconnectedness from extended kin and community.

In addition, research shows suburban families spend less time in civil and religious activities than do rural and urban families (Putnam, 2000).

Indeed, for the most part, when nuclear families move to the suburbs, they become more isolated, especially those families moving to what sociologists now call edge citiescities beyond the suburbs. This demographic shift deepens the familial privatization pattern and increases the likelihood of divorce and family break-ups (e.g., affluent families tend toward less social cooperation and connectedness in these edge cities, see Sloan-Wilson, 2013).

Why are there more family break-ups? Because people need larger communal connections than what the nuclear family can provide. Families need more bridging solidarity, sociologists would claim, to expand their range of connectedness beyond familial bonding solidarity (Bengston, 2013; Cherlin, 2014; Putnam, 2000).

Creating New Connections

I have argued elsewhereprecisely because of the reasons mentioned abovefor a resurgence of the modified extended family form that was common in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the modified extended family, nuclear families continue to live in their own private homes (nuclear), but their homes are located within a few miles of extended family, making for easier extended familial ties.

The main point, however, is that nuclear families need non-nuclear connections, that is, connections beyond the nuclear family, and parishes are the most capable local institutions to provide such extended bridging solidarity connections (in addition to the modified extended family just mentioned).

Indeed, Robert Bellah (1985) has argued that local parishes and congregations can meet the nuclear familial need for larger communal connections better than any institution in society. This is a bold claim, but I agree with Bellah.

Parishes Are Socializing Force

A local parish should envision itself as being a resourceful agent of socialization (how to be a member of a group) and ecclesialization (how to be a believing Church member) for families in these times of familial privatization and thinning social connections. Why so? Because the family is in disarray and therefore needs the parish now more than ever (disarray due to divorce, etc.).

Consequently, the larger Church needs to have a greater awareness context about the role of the parish as a socializing and ecclesializing force for families and individuals. Pope Francis says as much in Evangelii Gaudium:

The parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it possesses great flexibility, it can assume quite different contours depending on the openness and missionary creativity of the pastor and community. . . . It is a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey, and a center of constant missionary outreach. We must admit, though, that the call to review and renew our parishes has not yet sufficed to bring them nearer to people, to make them environments of living communion and participation, and to make them completely mission-oriented. (no. 28)

More Staffing, More Devotions

I argue that one of the main reasons parishes have not brought people nearer to them is because many local parishes are understaffed (especially youth and young adult ministers) and therefore are not able to offer families a host of religious, spiritual, and social experiences. Parishes need to take the lead in offering families opportunities for greater connection to the local parish community by offering a whole array of social ritual practices, such as socials, dinners, breakfasts, festivals, picnics, youth ministries, Christian service, etc., and religious ritual practices, especially specific religious devotions that fit this particular community (for example, certain saints' devotions).

As for religious ritual practices, popular devotions could be implemented at the parish level that focus on the needs of children, youth, and young adults or other particular needs within the parish.

Moreover, offering a host of Christian service projects geared to children, youth, and young adults could be a powerful means of connecting them to the parish, especially given that survey after survey shows the importance young people place on issues of Christian service and justice.

All of this assumes, however, that parishes hire more fully trained and educated professionals who can address the needs of people throughout the life-cycle. In particular, therefore, what is most needed in many parishes are theologically and sociologically astute professional ecclesial ministers who can pastorally respond to the many needs of families.

I am not advocating for a more therapeutically-oriented approach to pastoral ministry but a more ritually dense one. Families are in greater need of activities that connect them to the larger parish community. For those activities to be implemented and catch on in local parishes, these parishes, I believe, need full-time competent professional ecclesial ministers steeped in appreciation of these ritual practices, especially the Catholic Church's sacramental system.

This positon also assumes that parishes are open 24/7 when possible, which also assumes there are parish professional ministers available in order for the parish to be accessible. This also assumes parishes will have larger parish staffs than many parishes have at present.

Reservoir of Renewal

Families, especially young families, are in need of robust parishes that are filled with Christ's joy and steeped in occasions for engaging families in ritual practices. In sum, the parish needs to be a more prominent agent of ecclesialization and socialization of the family.

With seminaries such as Sacred Heart Major Seminary providing the appropriate professional training for such ecclesial ministerial roles and pastors hiring them, the local parish can be a powerful reservoir of ritual practices of social connection and, consequently, a dominant force in the formation of families.