Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
	In this country, we don’t name our churches “The Fourth Avenue Catholic Church,” but rather seek a patron saint or mystery of faith. We inherit this tradition from an old Roman custom via medieval England. Interestingly, that has not been the practice elsewhere, and parishes abroad often do carry just the name of the neighborhood. In Ireland, the Roman (English) practices didn’t take hold, and so churches are known simply by the street they are on, or by a nickname. Saint Francis of Assisi in Dublin is often called “Adam and Eve” after a pub in the same street. The pub sign is an interesting carving of our first parents, so they become patrons by default.
	Increasingly in the United States, we are seeing a familiar European pattern emerge when a few churches, each bearing the name of a patron saint or mystery, are gathered into one parish that bears a different name. Thus, we might hear of a parish of “Midvalley City” comprised of Saint Mary, Saint Francis, and Saint Ursula churches. Once a church has been consecrated, its name may not normally be changed. Therefore, when parishes are merged, a new name is given to the parish, which may or may not be that of a heavenly patron, but the church buildings retain their names. In the process, we have lost sight of some worthy patrons of old, but have also seen new parishes open dedicated to twentieth-century saints like Edith Stein, Katharine Drexel, and Mother Teresa.
—Rev. James Field