A friend sent this along, and it is truly mind-boggling. Or maybe, mind-blowing.

Read it and weep, or maybe laugh, from a diocese in Mississippi:

In June, the Mission and Ministry in Mississippi Task Force Committee held meetings with the leadership of religious order priests and religious communities of sisters and brothers to discuss, according to Bishop Joseph Latino, “how we can all coordinate our efforts to best meet the needs of the parishes and missions in our diocese.”

Below are some of the responses from the two gatherings:

+ People need to be prepared to take care of their parish. Their gifts, however small, need to be recognized and they need to become a part of taking care of their parish.

+ In one area of the diocese, a pastoral team of priests, living in community, help serve the needs of several parishes.

+ Weekly Mass can be celebrated on another day than Sunday.

+ A paradigm shift needs to take place in how we view ourselves. Are we a mission diocese or a missionary diocese? That is exciting. Stop thinking in financial terms only, of how poor we are. As a missionary diocese, as a missionary people, we are people of the word, people who do things outwardly. We need to reframe the question in terms of our viability.

+ Could we not have a dialogue about extraordinary celebrants of the Eucharist? When help was needed in the past, extraordinary ministers of Communion were started.

You can read more at the link.