September 2002 Call to Action News

Working Parish Snapshot (With Liturgy and Justice for All)

Name: Spirit of Christ Catholic Community

Location: Arvada, Colo., a middle-class suburb of Denver.

History: Founded in 1975 as a break-off from an overgrown parish. From the beginning, the new parish had two major priorities: the development of small church communities and a commitment to stewardship.

Membership: About 3,200 households, predominantly white, middle-class families, about 20 percent Hispanic, with small numbers of African Americans and Asians. An emphasis on hospitality and openness has led to a substantial representation of singles, gays and divorced persons in the mix. Tithing is strongly encouraged, and the parish earmarks 14 percent of its weekly collection to outreach programs.

Staff: 12 full-time staff, including a liturgical director, Christian formation director, small church community coordinator, and two youth ministry leaders.

Masses: six on Sunday in a newly constructed worship space, with the people facing one another and an exceptionally large altar table in the midst. Lively music is provided by a dozen rotating parish-music groups (except for the music-less 7 a.m. Mass, at the request of early-rising parishioners).

Activities: Spirit of Christ has 75 small church communities, each with 8 to 20 members who meet at least monthly. Resources and aids for these communities are provided by the parish leadership, which sees such groups not as peripheral but as essential to the vitality of the whole community. Parish leaders claim these groups, far from leading people away from the parish proper, create better commitment to other parish activities, better Mass attendance, and a growing spirituality among the members. The parish also sponsors a mission in Africa, assists in the local Catholic Worker house, is involved in local social justice concerns, and sends parishioners regularly to Juarez, Mexico, for an immersion experience during which they build homes for the poor. Small community members often go as a group. In addition, Spirit of Christ invites parishioners to apply for grants provided by the parish for education or for any worthy proposal.

Quote: "We live in a pretty conservative diocese with an Opus Dei auxiliary bishop and a Neo-Catechumenate seminary sponsored by the church; this diocese is very much in the spotlight. But that doesn't prevent us from being an inclusive, inviting, welcoming, Vatican II parish. For most Catholics the parish is the Church, and we get along fine. We know too that we're part of the larger, diverse Church where there's plenty of room. The Church is bigger than any diocese, and God is bigger still."

Source: Barbara Howard, small church community coordinator

Contact: www.spiritofchrist.org phone: 303-422-9173