Hey everybody, welcome to You Were Born for this podcast with Father John Rickerl.

That's me. I'm your host, the executive director of Acts 29, where we talk about anything and everything related to transforming parishes in the church.

And as always, I'm here with my co-host, Nick and Mary, guys. You're doing well.

Good to be with you again, guys.

It's hot in Michigan. It feels great, doesn't it?

Waited a long time.

So, Nick, what are we talking about today?

Today we're talking about why we need to reimagine parishes right now.

Now!

Part two.

That's right.

Part dos. Okay.

So we're talking about our white paper. We're in the middle of a longer series, but a little mini series within it, about our white paper, which is titled Reimagining what a Catholic parish can be a destination for the 21st century. And so we felt compelled here at Acts 29 to write this white paper. We felt compelled by the Holy Spirit, but it comes from our experience, our own

experience, both in priestly and parish ministry, as well as our experience in ministering to

priests and parishes all around the country. And the present model of parish life is unsustainable.

It is not what God is asking for in these days. So in this particular episode, this is the hinge between last week and this next week.

So last week we talked about why it's necessary to transform parishes now from the perspective of the clergy and the lay staff who serve with them.

Next time, we're going to talk about why this is necessary from the

perspective of like the nuns, right, those who aren't in the pews and those who have fallen away.

And also all these unchurched people we talk about all the time, right? So today, though,

we want to talk about why this is necessary for the lay faithful in the pews so that they can

get the care they deserve and be equipped as best as possible

...