Interesting story in the Chicago Tribune about a Catholic parish outside of Chicago that has consciously, and by this account successfully, modeled itself after evangelical megachurches. In fact, it’s a mere three miles away from the (in)famous Willow Creek, and has managed to win parishoners back who were worshiping there.

The secret to the 22-year-old church’s success has been replicating what growing churches are doing, but in a Catholic way. The result is an innovative congregation that bills itself as “an evangelical church in the Roman Catholic tradition.”

“I think what happened to the Catholic Church is we became a little comfortable with ourselves and forgot some of what made us Catholic. We forgot what made us passionate,” said Holy Family’s pastor, Rev. Pat Brennan. “So I’ve just taken the best that I’ve seen of Catholic parishes and evangelical churches and put them together to make Holy Family. In doing that, I think we’ve rediscovered the heart of Catholicism.”

Like several other parishioners, Mary Whiteside said she was on the verge of abandoning her Catholic faith when she found Holy Family. On her first visit, Whiteside said she was hooked by the music and the pastor’s riveting homilies. Her husband, Phil, who was raised a Baptist, was so moved that he converted to Catholicism.”

Great things are happening in this church. We’re just very alive,” said Whiteside, who is on the parish leadership council. “We’re sharing some elements of the evangelical church, but I don’t think we’re trading any part of our Catholic identity.”

Holy Family was started two decades ago when Cardinal Joseph Bernardin [coiner of the “consistent ethic of life” – Lee] became concerned about the large numbers of Catholics in the northern suburbs leaving their churches to become members of Willow Creek Community Church. In 1984, the former archbishop purchased 16 acres of farmland in Inverness and founded a new parish community, Holy Family.

You can read the rest of the story here (link via Wesley Blog).

Though there has been some controversy:

But tensions have risen with the current archbishop, Cardinal Francis George, who supports a more orthodox view of the liturgy than his predecessor. Parishioners say the most recent example of that tension is the dispute over kneelers.

In the church’s original design, Holy Family never had kneelers, partly to replicate evangelical churches but also to provide more room between pews. But when the church presented renovation plans to the archdiocese last year, parishioners learned the plans would not be approved unless the church installed kneelers.

“I’m disappointed,” said Rosemary Geisler. “That was a decision that should have been left up to the people, and instead it was forced on us.”

The minor dispute has led some parishioners to worry about the type of priest who will be selected as pastor of Holy Name after Brennan’s term ends in two years. Dolores Siok, who has been at Holy Family for 17 years, worries about what will happen if the new priest wants to take the church back to Catholic orthodoxy.

Now, I’m guessing most of the members of Holy Family wouldn’t say they’ve departed from Catholic orthodoxy!

Clearly, though, it’s not just Protestants who deal with the tension between being faithful to our tradition and attracting new people (or retaining already existing members).