Church in a Different Form

People have all different ways of viewing the reality of Church in their lives. This past Sunday afternoon, parishioners at CTR celebrated the reality of Church life with our annual picnic. Fun, laughter, music, dancing are not the usual perceptions used to express what it is to be Church.

The most frequent imagining of Church is not a Sunday afternoon at a picnic, but rather Sunday morning around the Lord’s Eucharistic Table. Indeed, Church begins around the communion Table, but the reality of long tables filled with picnic food is a wonderful overflow of God-with-his-people. Such was our Sunday afternoon experience with people, laughter, music, games, and an overflowing table.

All of us have a good experience of so-called “domestic” Church, the Church gathered in homes around the family table with friends and relatives. The CTR picnic was indeed “domestic”, i.e., “homegrown”! It was parishioners coming together and working very hard to bring folks together. Parishioners stepped forward to welcome, feed, and

ensure a welcome for each other. Although the community hosted itself, there was a core of parishioners at the center of the action. The “Grupo de Oración Cristo Redentor”, our local Hispanic prayer group, hosted the rest of us. They planned and gathered a wonderful table of food and served even more food brought by other families. The Knights of Columbus, Good Samaritan Council, made sure that the hotdogs and hamburgers were well prepared and arrived in overflowing measure for all of us.

We talk a lot about “community”, but the picnic gave an authentic experience of the Church gathered in families, friends, and neighbors. People of all kinds of ethnic and national backgrounds gathered for dancing to Latino rhythms, a wild fling at intergenerational musical chairs. The kids “mooned walked” and they, with a few adults, did some serious pony riding! Food continued to be shared as people returned to their homes. A crack clean-up crew had the Atonement Hall, the kitchen, and the grounds back to better-then-normal. Thanks to everyone – Gracias a todos ustedes.