CrossingOver - Future in American Parishes

Bringing the the perspective of the American Parish was Dr. Brett Hoover,CSP.  Dr. Hoover has been a theologian in residence at Loyola of Chicago, working with the Inspire Program.  His thoughts are placed in an 'eschatological trajectory' which sees parish as an interim structure until the coming kingdom arrives.

He shared some of the trends evident in parish life in the US tht included the following:

• Cultural diversity is reinventing the church in the US.  1/4th of the US population will by Latino/a by 2050.  Today, for example, Chicago is only 50% Anglo!  The cultural narrative is changing as Latino/as move from migrant to mainstream.
• A new narrative would move from parallel cultural or linguistic parishes in the same community to shared parish.
• Challenge calls for recognizing who is invisible in our parishes and how do we move towards reconciliation that does not require uniformity?  How do we deal with the attendant grief?
• He spoke of a 'cultural comprehensibility' that invites us to move away from parish as polemic to parish as a 'center for seekers.'  In this way evangelization means we are becoming something new together. 

I believe we will all hear more as Dr.Hoover publishes his thoughts about the growing and graced cultural reality of parish life today!