Are there online reviews of Catholic parishes?

December 16, 2008 5:42 PM

How can I learn more about Catholic parishes online? Is there a Rate My Catholic Church.com?

Is there a way to learn more about individual Catholic parishes (in the US) - without going and visiting each one individually?

I travel a lot, and often want to attend Mass while traveling. When there are many parishes in an area, I would prefer to attend one that I feel more comfortable in. Is there a way to find out ahead of time things like how conservative/liberal a given parish is, how much they focus on social justice versus other issues, how welcoming they are to queer people, etc?

(Anonymous because some people I know would be bothered by the concept of some parishes being "better" than others.)

posted by anonymous to Religion & Philosophy (7 answers total)

[Pre-answer side-note: I don't think there's anything wrong with a concept of parishes being better or worse than others. By law a parish "is a certain community of Christ's faithful stably established within a particular Church, whose pastoral care, under the authority of the diocesan Bishop, is entrusted to a parish priest as its proper pastor." 1983 CIC 515 sec. 1. So insofar as a parish fails to meet this objective standard--being a communitas christifidelium--and pastoral care is neglected, that parish can be said to be worse than one that is better meeting that standard. So don't feel bad.]

For anyone trying to find a nearby Catholic Church while traveling one cannot do better than MassTimes. But they don't have a drop-down Liberal/Conservative Accept/Ignore/Challenge Teaching on Same Sex Attraction category.

If what you're wanting is a gay-affirming parish, I don't know that there's a central clearing-house for places like that. The ones that are are usually notorious, so if that's what you're looking for you already know about it. :) (I might add that there generally aren't collectives for any sorts of "custom" Catholic parish groups except along lines of rites or liturgical preference, e.g. Byzantine, extraordinary form, charismatic, vernacular-specific liturgies, etc.) But along the lines of Catholic collectives of people with SSA, the only group I could recommend in good conscience are these guys. (You'll have to do some google-fu to track down the priest listed to a church or, in some cases, find where the church is that hosts the chapter, but I bet they'll help if you call them for locations.) There are other sites, such as those guys, who also seem to have chapters all over, but I would counsel against getting involved with them owing to their heterodox approach to the SSA issue. Think of the canon above and you'll know what I mean.

But it's up to you.
posted by resurrexit at 6:27 PM on December 16, 2008

I don't have an answer but have wondered this myself - I was raised Catholic, and am not religious but sometimes have to attended Mass for social reasons. I'm always pleased and surprised when the sermon is something I agree with. Like the church near me that has mentioned fighting discrimination against homosexuals as well as name-dropped Dorothy Day.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 8:01 PM on December 16, 2008

Look for Paulist Centers and Jesuit run churches...those tend to be more liberal.
posted by emd3737 at 8:17 PM on December 16, 2008

I almost hate to recommend the site here because I have issues with its embracing of orthodoxy, but the Catholic Answers forums will almost certainly be able to glean you good information. The idea being that you're looking for the parish in a given town that is warned against!
posted by Roach at 8:50 PM on December 16, 2008

That link should have been Catholic.com
posted by Roach at 8:52 PM on December 16, 2008

It's tedious, but one way to get a read on the parishes you're considering is look at their websites and see which ministries are active. Earth Care or Criminal Justice ministries suggest a decent liberal constituency, while a heavy emphasis on the anti-abortion side of respect for life suggests a more conservative parish.
posted by katemonster at 9:33 PM on December 16, 2008

Try the Ship of Fools, which is international and interdenominational. They have a Mystery Worshipper feature:

Since ancient times (ok, 1998), Ship of Fools has been sending Mystery Worshippers to churches worldwide. Travelling incognito, they ask those questions which go to the heart of church life: How long was the sermon? How hard the pew? How cold was the coffee? How warm the welcome?

You probably won't be able to find all the churches you're interested in, but you can post a thread in Ecclesiantics, like Episcopal churches in San Francisco

I'm visiting San Francisco this week for an academic conference (in Wednesday and out early Sunday morning). Can any shipmates offer a recommendation or two for a place to drop in for evening services? The hotel (a Hilton) is downtown, O'Farrell Street, and I'll have no car, so walking distance or public transit are my options.

posted by boudicca at 2:41 AM on December 17, 2008