She's seen them excited before. It didn't last long. To this hour that office provides a variety of community services, including legal aid to immigrants and clothing, food, and furniture to those who need them. A lot of people will just throw money at a problem. I can get the parish council and the finance committee to support projects, but I can't get people to come out and provide the time.
Catholic bishops see real parish life being realized.
But it probably won't come as a shock to a lot of people to hear that many parish social-justice coordinators don't expect to see that process happening particularly quickly. These same folk, however, are embracing the bishops' statement as part of a long campaign of persuasion and conversion of their fellow parishioners. Other parishes may not be jumping on the Salt and Light process, even though their leaders are aware of it, because, frankly, there's too much going on as it is. Our pastor's very much interested in furthering our interest and understanding of social concerns, but perhaps two thirds of our parish are slightly older people who are not as open to change as some of the younger ones. On the other hand, the younger ones have not been drawn enough into the life of the parish, into the spirit . . .