Fr. Rafael Bercasio speaks to tourists gathered for Sunday Mass in late March at El Cristo Rey Chapel in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. (CNS/Florida Catholic/Ana Rodriguez-Soto)
by Peter Feuerherd
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Editor's note: The Field Hospital blog reports on parish and other grassroots efforts across the U.S. and Canada to accompany those on the margins. Pope Francis said he sees the church as a "field hospital" that labors "from the ground up" to "heal wounds."
There's a parish out there for every taste: for traditionalists, social justice activists, ethnic groups. Author and professor Charles Camosy describes the growth of "personal" parishes and how they might serve as a model for a future church.
A disturbing story: how parishes on Native American reservations became a dumping ground for predatory priests in Montana.
Can't beat the view: A pastor ministers in a parish that serves the Grand Canyon.
Traditionalist Catholics find a home in a parish in suburban Cincinnati approved by the Diocese of Covington, Kentucky. No vocation shortage here: There are five priests in residence.
A Kansas town founded on farming and faith struggles to survive.
Meanwhile, Catholic parishes in formerly non-Catholic South Carolina are growing.
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In Jersey City, New Jersey, a social activist pastor brings two parishes together in a merger.
Bring a young person to church is the ecumenical campaign in Erie, Pennsylvania.
[Peter Feuerherd is a correspondent for NCR's Field Hospital series on parish life and is a professor of journalism at St. John's University, New York.]
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