Only Christ is Essential

A priest I know once told me a story about a parishioner who happened to be a big financial contributor to his parish. The two of them once got into a disagreement over a choice that the priest had made for the parish. The parishioner, after trying to change the priest's mind about his decision, said to him, "well, maybe I will need to find another parish and give my donations there." The priest, while realizing the impact that this would have on the parish, said in response: "Ok, we'll miss you. God bless!"

When he told me this story, he explained that no priest can make a decision for the parish based on his desire to keep how much money (or time, or talent, or impact) a parishioner has in the parish. "No parish, ever, in any way, is dependent on any one person other than Christ the Lord." He looked me in the eye and said very sternly, "you will give account to God, and not to your parishioners, on Judgment Day; never let them threaten you. Love them and always make the decisions that are right whether they like it or not."

I believe it was St. John Vianney who once said that if a priest is not offending someone once in a while he is probably not being faithful to Christ. That truth is easy to believe, but hard to accept. We all know the impact that certain people have on a parish, and neither my priest friend nor I ever want to lose any parishioner. Yet, each person has to decide for themselves what they are going to do, and there is no one who is essential to the parish. Even priests are expendable. It is Jesus' parish, and He alone is absolutely necessary.

The priest also told me about what happened after that parishioner left. The parish had a few weeks where the collection was a bit more lean than before. Then over a span of three months, four new families joined the Church and their collected offerings totalled twice what the one parishioner who left had been giving. God always provides, because it is His church.