text: Does the future of American Catholicism lie in the megachurch or the microchurch? Or some combination of the two? One thing is clear. Without some changes, the current parish model will no longer be sustainable in a few years.
  
  I can envision coming together in small, home-based gatherings for intimate community and faith-sharing, and occasionally gathering for larger experiences of 'Church Universal.' My hope, though, is that the Catholic model of the megachurch (if that's where we're headed) doesn't just ape the current Evangelical model where the emphasis seems to be on performance rather than worship.
  
  There is something distinctive about the Catholic sacramental experience that doesn't easily fit the megachurch model. I'm not saying it's impossible for Catholics to adapt that model for our own tradition, but I believe it would be important to go about it very intentionally.