Like the Church, Our Computers Are Broken

If there was ever going to be a tour of our Evango workspaces, I think most people would be surprised by the equipment.

Yes, that’s right.

They wouldn’t be intrigued by the idea board which focuses our attention for the next three months, or the birthday calendar that reminds us daily of who we are praying for in the evangelizing community. I don’t even think visitors would stop to take in the atmosphere which we have lovingly cultivated, one that inspires prayer and friendship, action and contemplation.

Honestly—and it is kind of embarrassing to admit this but—I think all of that would be dwarfed by the equipment we use, or rather, the state that most of it is in.

Our computers would be a topic of particular interest, because whether you’d be looking at my desk or that of my fellow evangelists, you'd think that we enjoy wrestling with the dead.

The Church appears mortally wounded or in some places even dead; and yet, She is still able to do what She was founded by Jesus to do: assist you in becoming a saint.

Don’t believe me?

Allow me to illustrate. My cords are frayed and almost dangerous, and the letters on the keyboard are entirely worn out in some places due to overuse. (Have you ever seen such a thing?!)

Another team member’s computer is cracked and stays on the screen that it prefers, a good party trick no doubt, but incredibly frustrating with the variety of work that we need to accomplish.

And still another computer has the memory of a zygote, making it quite difficult to multi-task or simply keep up with a planning session that has us opening numerous files.

I tell you this because for all of that, they still do what we need them to do.

It’s a little bit like the Church, isn’t it?

If your parish is like every parish that I have ever attended, then you know that it has its own version of the cracked screen and incredibly slow software.

You know that the communication plan is flawed or simply non-existent.

You know some or possibly many of the public or behind the scenes problems that it has.

For all intents and purposes, the Church appears mortally wounded or in some places even dead; and yet, She is still able to do what She was founded by Jesus to do: assist you in becoming a saint.

So bang on the keyboard of the parish when you need to.

Insist on an upgrade wherever and whenever possible.

Shake the hard drive of the leadership if you really think that is necessary.

But never forget that God’s Church, though wounded and limping through our turbulent times, still belongs to Jesus.

And through that same Church, we will be saved.

in Christ,

patrick