A bishop I respect said this week that Catholics frustrated with their parish should stop trying to fix it. "If there's a bad Novus Ordo Mass, you can't improve those priests, I'm afraid. So just go anywhere else."
He's not wrong about everything. Reverence matters. Belonging matters. Formation matters.
But who stays for the 99?
This Weekend's Homily
Last Sunday I preached on the vineyard - and the roadmap my son asked for.
Four weeds. Four virtues. Start with the vineyard of your own heart.
This Sunday
The readings shift from vineyard to wedding feast.
Isaiah paints a picture of the mountain where God will host all peoples - rich food, choice wines, and tears wiped away forever. The Psalm is the familiar "The Lord is my shepherd." Paul tells us he's learned the secret of contentment in all circumstances: "I can do all things in him who strengthens me."
And then Jesus tells another parable about people who refuse an invitation - this time to a wedding feast. The king sends his servants out to the main roads: "Invite whomever you find."
The invitation is open. The feast is ready. The question is whether we'll show up - and whether we'll be dressed for the occasion.
Ad Alta Leadership
Two new pieces this week, as Ad Alta has pivoted from leadership coaching to the diocesan and parish consulting that has started to take root:
The Meeting Where Nothing Was Decided - Why your team leaves meetings confused, and what to do about it.
Weaving Shared Language Into One Voice - Mission statements matter. But only if they're actually shared.
And if you haven't taken it yet, the Ad Alta Leadership Diagnostic is live - a quick self-assessment for Catholic leaders and institutions.
I'm Reading
The Altar: One on One - A meditation on what the altar is and what it means to approach it.
Consuming the Word by Scott Hahn - How the New Testament and the Eucharist shaped each other in the early Church. Fitting for a week where Isaiah describes a feast on the mountain and Jesus tells a parable about a wedding banquet.
Two Lamps
Issue 23 arrives Friday: Saints John XXIII and Bruno of Cologne.
The papal apartments at the Vatican. An evening in February 1959. The pope who would call a Council, and the saint who founded the Carthusians - separated by nine centuries, united in a single scene.
Lux Perpetua
The final arc continues.
The Living Thread is on Chapter 30. The Lost Crown is on Chapter 26.
Joshua Maren has returned from Spain with the evidence he needed. Now he's writing the argument. The notation predates the chain. The source is a perception, not a document. And Daniel's decoding points to four items in Jerusalem.
Final Word
"I can do all things in him who strengthens me."
— Philippians 4:13
God bless your week.
Deacon Michael