No, Your Parish is Not ‘Vibrant’, by Phil Lawler

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, Sept. 04, 2024

Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org.

Could we all please agree to stop using the adjective “vibrant” to describe a Catholic parish, diocese, or other faith community?

My desktop dictionary (admittedly an antique, Webster’s New Collegiate, published in 1974) defines “vibrant” as “oscillating or pulsating rapidly”—something that is ordinarily done by inanimate objects, not by human beings, let alone human communities. Granted, the connotation of the word has changed over time, so that today it is used as more or less synonymous with “energetic” or “vigorous.” But those familiar old words conjure up distinct mental images, whereas “vibrant” leaves things somewhat vague. If someone says that the walls of his room are painted in “vibrant” colors, you know what to expect; if he says that he lives in a “vibrant” neighborhood, you’re not so sure. For that very reason, I suspect, the word is often used by publicists who want to make something sound more exciting than it really is.

Is your parish or diocese oscillating or pulsating rapidly? No. Nor should it. So why is the word “vibrant” invoked with such mind-numbing frequency to describe Catholic communities? …

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