to be a social services organization, nor to act as a legislative lobby, and certainly not to generate endless hours of committee meetings about the color of a parish’s pew cushions. In the work of preaching the Gospel, all (or at least some) of those activities may become necessary, but they should never become the primary focus of the Church’s time or energy. Unfortunately, they often do, resulting in parishes that seem to have no missionary identity in their community. The parish simply becomes