“If we have to sell parish churches, this may be the end of the Church as we know it,” said one Portland Catholic interviewed on the news.

At first I felt shock and sadness at the loss faithful Catholics in Portland must be experiencing. In the worst case scenario suggested by news reports such as this, the Church as we have known it will pass away.

But then I asked myself: would this have to be the end of the Church?

The Portland Diocese may not have to give up all its material assets in the end, but since it’s a possibility, I tried to imagine what it would be like for people in a diocese that must sell its properties and close parishes. Already Catholics in many dioceses have been experiencing the scarcity of priests. Now this would mean many of the Church’s worship and gathering spaces, activities and spiritual resources will no longer be there. How hard it will be for young parents to carry out their responsibility for the faith development of their children, for families to celebrate important “passages” in their lives in a familiar religious context, and for the Catholic community not to have their churches in which to worship together regularly.

Then came the small voice of hope. I began to think about the first-century Christian community described in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles, particularly those of St. Paul. They did not yet have bishops, priests, parishes or even written Gospels. Yet their wholehearted living of the example and teachings of Jesus was the very foundation of the church that we are two thousand years later. Author Thomas Cahill describes the early Christians’ life of discipleship:

The Son of Man has become the Ward of all Mankind. Incarnated as the human Jesus of Nazareth, he is after his resurrection the principle of Jewish Justice itself, incarnated in anyone and everyone who needs our help. . . Jesus told us only once (at the Last Supper) that he would be present in the Bread and the Wine, but he tells us repeatedly in the gospels that he is always present in the Poor and Afflicted – to whom we should bow and kneel . . . But the first century churchpeople, the people of the Way, took this lesson with all solemnity. It gave them their constant focus – on the poor and the needy. Though this focus will be abandoned soon enough as Christian interest turns in the second century to theological hatred, in the third century to institutional triumphalism, and in the fourth century to the deadly game of power politics, it has remained the focus of a few in every age. . .” (Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus. Anchor Books. New York. 1999. pp. 247-248.)

Perhaps all the loss we are suffering in the Church can bring us back to the very heart of who we as the Christian, Catholic Church are meant to be. It was the early Christian community’s deep faith in the Good News of Jesus, retold each time they gathered for the breaking of the bread, their “Jewish justice” of caring for the needy in their community and extending hospitality without limit, and their openness to the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised would be with the Church until the end of time that made their being “church” so wholehearted and pure.

Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit is our great hope today, but all of us, not just professional churchmen, must ask God for this gift. Are we willing to listen in prayer and in the events of life for the voice of God, to believe what God promises, to act justly with unreserved love for every “neighbor,” in home life, in the workplace and in civil society? An increasingly transformed church and world, the “kingdom” Jesus came to bring about, begins with asking that our own hearts be transformed to be like Jesus’ own heart.

Pope John XXIII called the times in which we are living “the Age of the Laity.” We are called to be as Jesus was in his lifetime on earth. We, the laity, the faithful, are being invited by God to take our full responsibility for the life and mission of Christian communities in the Church, inspired and led by the Holy Spirit every step of the way.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.