{"id":2868,"date":"2008-09-09T15:42:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-09T15:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/on-these-rocks.html"},"modified":"2008-09-09T15:42:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-09T15:42:00","slug":"on-these-rocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/on-these-rocks.html","title":{"rendered":"On these rocks …"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> This may be the very definition of “pro-active.” <\/p>\n

Faced with the inconvenient truth that their churches would probably be closing, two parishes in Massachusetts voted in 2006 to consolidate. They did this on their own, without any pressure from the diocese. And now they are getting ready to break ground for their new church. <\/p>\n

As the Boston Globe<\/a> reported: <\/p>\n

Members are getting to know each other through periodic combined events. The parishes have held several joint Masses, (Fr. Lawrence) Brault said, and they will team later this month to stage a harvest festival.<\/p>\n

Parishioners were asked to bring rocks from their own property, decorated to represent their families, to a ceremony to bless the land where the new church will sit. Those rocks will be poured into the foundation of the new building, (parishioner Daniel) Lambert said.<\/p>\n

Lambert said the rocks illustrate a metaphor – that the people from both parishes will form the foundation of the new church.<\/p>\n

But, Lambert said, more than anything, it is the parishioners’ faith that will bind them. He noted Catholicism has rituals and core beliefs that remain standard across different churches.<\/p>\n

“That makes it easy to go from place to place and feel like you’re at home,” Lambert said. “My primary identity is not a particular parish. My primary identity is Catholic.” <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a great read. Check the Globe link<\/a> for the rest. <\/p>\n

Photo: Fr. Lawrence Brault, by Josh Reynolds\/Boston Globe<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This may be the very definition of “pro-active.” Faced with the inconvenient truth that their churches would probably be closing, two parishes in Massachusetts voted in 2006 to consolidate. They did this on their own, without any pressure from the diocese. And now they are getting ready to break ground for their new church. As…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-churches","category-the-people-in-the-pews"],"yoast_head":"\nOn these rocks ... - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/on-these-rocks.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On these rocks ... - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This may be the very definition of “pro-active.” Faced with the inconvenient truth that their churches would probably be closing, two parishes in Massachusetts voted in 2006 to consolidate. They did this on their own, without any pressure from the diocese. And now they are getting ready to break ground for their new church. As…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/on-these-rocks.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-09-09T15:42:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SMbUcxOxWlI\/AAAAAAAAC8A\/KzFV1GmJK4Q\/s400\/539w%5B1%5D.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"On these rocks ... - The Deacon's Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/on-these-rocks.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"On these rocks ... - The Deacon's Bench","og_description":"This may be the very definition of “pro-active.” Faced with the inconvenient truth that their churches would probably be closing, two parishes in Massachusetts voted in 2006 to consolidate. They did this on their own, without any pressure from the diocese. And now they are getting ready to break ground for their new church. As…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/on-these-rocks.html","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2008-09-09T15:42:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SMbUcxOxWlI\/AAAAAAAAC8A\/KzFV1GmJK4Q\/s400\/539w%5B1%5D.jpg"}],"author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/on-these-rocks.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/on-these-rocks.html","name":"On these rocks ... - The Deacon's Bench","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/on-these-rocks.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/on-these-rocks.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SMbUcxOxWlI\/AAAAAAAAC8A\/KzFV1GmJK4Q\/s400\/539w%5B1%5D.jpg","datePublished":"2008-09-09T15:42:00+00:00","dateModified":"2008-09-09T15:42:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/5a7b3c6e9d155e382842aa310ff9b1ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/on-these-rocks.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/on-these-rocks.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/on-these-rocks.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SMbUcxOxWlI\/AAAAAAAAC8A\/KzFV1GmJK4Q\/s400\/539w%5B1%5D.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SMbUcxOxWlI\/AAAAAAAAC8A\/KzFV1GmJK4Q\/s400\/539w%5B1%5D.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/on-these-rocks.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"On these rocks …"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic Deacon Ponders the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/5a7b3c6e9d155e382842aa310ff9b1ee","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/114\/1144d939be636f641ea021e1d347f9fdx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/114\/1144d939be636f641ea021e1d347f9fdx96.jpg","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"description":"A Roman Catholic deacon serving the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, Greg Kandra is News Director for the diocese's cable channel, NET (New Evangelization Television.) Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2868\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}