Lessons from the Fourth Crusade

I have always been fascinated by the Crusades, and the Fourth Crusade in particular. That was the one where Constantinople was sacked by the Crusaders under the leadership of the Venetians. The city was held by the Crusaders for about 60 years, before being captured back by the Byzantines. The long term result of being sacked and occupied for so long was that the city and empire never again regained its power, and so it fell for good to the Turks in 1453.

There are lessons in this for parishes, and other organizations too, I guess. The main one is that it is possible for a church to be so weakened by years and years of stagnation, inept leadership, and plain bad luck that it is impossible to turn the situation around. A church can be so damaged by ongoing trouble that no matter who comes in or what happens recovery is a mere pipe dream. This is a very real possibility with my parish of St. Francis, one that I face every day. I truly hope that we will be able to turn things around here, and we are making some progress thanks be to God, but the progress has to come more quickly that the rot, or we could be in trouble.

This should serve as a warning to parishes that are just drifting along stagnating, and suffering with the status quo. Deal with the rot before it is too late!