From Sacred Canopy to Sacred Umbrellas: Cultural Characteristics of Parishes that Thrive

The Catholic parish in the west has not fared well owing to the secularising dismantling of the ‘sacred canopy’, most pronounced since the 1960s. With the help of historical philosopher, Charles Taylor, I define the secular landscape that has emerged in the canopy’s wake, and which Catholic parishes have been called to evangelise by successive popes. Studying the culture of two parishes that thrive in their secular context through a critical realist lens, I identify five cultural characteristics that signal these parishes’ success. These parishes demonstrate that, in a pluralistic, secular environment, it is more effective to consider and treat Catholic parishes as distinct, ‘sacred umbrellas’, rather than generalist, interchangeable components of a wider system driven by ‘canopy’ mentalities. Data demonstrates what might happen when a Catholic parish fosters ‘umbrella community’ with a focus on personal transformation and authenticity: diffuse community results, attractive to the postmodern seeker. What is more, confident and invitational evangelisation develops among parishioners. I argue that structural and cultural change on a parish and diocesan level has the potential to reverse the trends of decline by allowing parishes to strategically renegotiate their identities in such a way that will attract both believers and seekers of the twenty-first century.