This guy sounds like a commercial for that very ancient and respected tradition of Kawanzaa
I don't know about you, but I go to hold hands and celebrate community. 
That's a joke for you lidless eye types. :D
Don't forget the music! 
My pastor's homily for the Feast of the Holy Family almost caused me to die of a "community" overdose in its final 45 seconds. I think the word was coming about 4-5 times per sentence.
I was at the same Mass as your friend. I must admit the deacon's opening comments did startle me at first and I would have phrased it differently. However, Sunday was the Feast of the Holy Family and the point of his remarks, or so it seemed to me, was to tie the feast to the concept of the parish community as family (the "family" part), for us the parishoners as well as all those within our community (the "diversity" part)who are suffering without the love of a family. Deacon Curtis went on to talk very movingly about several street people he has met during Operation Night Watch who had become estranged from their families, particularly one older man with two sisters in Seattle, who wanted nothing to do with him. He spent his nights in dark doorways downtown.
I think the brief quote by your friend was a bit misleading. The deacon is a kind, older man who has spent decades helping the poor by organizing soup kitchens and is one of the guiding spirits of Operation Night Watch. He is rather infirm now and delivers his homelies from a wheel chair. One of his strong points for me is the way he works pro life themes into some of his homelies and the prayers of petition. He is definitely not an AmChurch guy. Maybe your friend was a visitor to St. James and unaware of the deacon's style of preaching. He does dwell too much at times on his own experiences for homily material but his heart is good. I am absolutely certain he did not intend to say that the Eucharist and worship were not the point of our attendance.
Thank you so much for your comment, Arnold. I think it's dangerous to criticize someone for a phrase taken out of context.
Now, I'll take a phrase of yours out of it's context...to tie the feast to the concept of the parish community as family (the "family" part), for us the parishoners as well as all those within our community (the "diversity" part)who are suffering without the love of a family.
As a single person, the "community" at my church parish is very important to me. My parents are a part of the parish as well, but they won't always be there. One day they'll be gone and that thought scares me and makes me wonder what it will be like to not have them there with me at mass. But then I know that I'll have the rest of my church family...my community...those community members and I share something very important - communion. Funny, those two words sound a lot alike.
See, I don't think of "community", used in the context of a church or parish, as being a trendy or liberal or foolish word.
Communion - is it not a relationship between God and an individual?
Is Communion (i.e. the Eucharist) meant to be individually personal - or is it meant to be collectively personal - or both?
Paul,
Both. The Liturgy of the Eucharist is fundamentally an act of public worship of the people of God. You can't really separate the individual and communal aspects. It is a mystery, like the trinity.
Paul:
Both. But the key to communal worship is that that it is side by side, facing the Eucharist, not about "community building". The surest way to doom community is to make the community about the community. Just as the surest way to make yourself sick is to spend your life obsessed with health. You get health by pursuing other things like good food, sports, and fresh air. You get community by seeking the Lord, not community.
Similar in nature to the bogus arguement that it is diversity that makes us strong.
If we spend our time focusing on diversity, we will eventually divide ourselves. When we focus on a singular purpose (such as winning WWII or the Eucharist) we become strong.
Thanks.
Peace, all.
Somehow, I think one point in one homily is not the fulcrum that will pitch Roman Catholicism into everlasting darkness. One of the worst neotrad homilies I ever heard on a major feast was a former pastor who spent 15 minutes trying to logically prove the resurrection on Easter Sunday. Sheesh! It's about faith.
Mark, I think your statement, "The surest way to doom community is to make the community about the community" is accurate enough. But at the same time, a parish community, like a good marriage, needs to be worked on. My wife and I can say Christ is at the center of our marriage, but that doesn't abrogate our need to communicate and build our relationship. Criticizing one point in one homily would be like you criticizing me for kissing my spouse good-bye in the morning and suggesting, "All you ever think about is sex!"
I'm with Flannery O'Connor.
Communion is about relating to God as a Body, I think. The way we practice it, in Reformed churches at least, it seems more of an individualistic thing. But if we look at the Old Testament, God's covenant people never related to God on the basis of their distinctive individuality. That's the American heresy. Rather, we relate based on what we have in common - the saving event, which for them was the Exodus, and for us is the Cross. There Christ saved His people from their sins - and we are His Bride, making Herself ready for the end of time, when we shall celebrate the perfect feast. When Paul says that the Corinthians were failing to discern the Lord's body, I think a good case can be made that we are the body in question.
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