Parish roundup: A model for future church; Grand Canyon chapel

Fr. Rafael Bercasio speaks to tourists gathered for Sunday Mass in late March at El Cristo Rey Chapel in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. (CNS/Florida Catholic/Ana Rodriguez-Soto)

Fr. Rafael Bercasio speaks to tourists gathered for Sunday Mass in late March at El Cristo Rey Chapel in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. (CNS/Florida Catholic/Ana Rodriguez-Soto)

by Peter Feuerherd

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Editor's note: The Field Hospital blog reports on parish and other grassroots efforts across the U.S. and Canada to accompany those on the margins. Pope Francis said he sees the church as a "field hospital" that labors "from the ground up" to "heal wounds."

There's a parish out there for every taste: for traditionalists, social justice activists, ethnic groups. Author and professor Charles Camosy describes the growth of "personal" parishes and how they might serve as a model for a future church.

A disturbing story: how parishes on Native American reservations became a dumping ground for predatory priests in Montana. 

 

Can't beat the view: A pastor ministers in a parish that serves the Grand Canyon.

Traditionalist Catholics find a home in a parish in suburban Cincinnati approved by the Diocese of Covington, Kentucky. No vocation shortage here: There are five priests in residence. 

 

A Kansas town founded on farming and faith struggles to survive.

Meanwhile, Catholic parishes in formerly non-Catholic South Carolina are growing.

In Jersey City, New Jersey, a social activist pastor brings two parishes together in a merger.

Bring a young person to church is the ecumenical campaign in Erie, Pennsylvania.

[Peter Feuerherd is a correspondent for NCR's Field Hospital series on parish life and is a professor of journalism at St. John's University, New York.]

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