Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Cross, Page 8
Thursday, September 7, 2000
The community of communities
known as a parish
By Sheila Garcia
Catholic News Service
“H ow many people in your par
ish do you know by name?
Years ago, when I began my first
post-college job in Washington, D.C.,
I knew no one at the downtown parish
where I chose to worship. Although
the liturgies were beautiful, my sense
of loneliness and isolation from the
community grew.
One evening I decided to attend the
monthly meeting of the parish’s young-
adult group. Here I found a community
within a community. The group not
only connected me to other young
adults but to other parish members as
well. Gradually I learned the names of
the 82-year-old woman in the first pew,
the Hispanic family in the back and
even the homeless man who ended up
attending my wedding!
Many members of Catholic par
ishes tell similar stories. Since the
average parish has 3,000 members,
people often connect to the parish
through small groups.
These groups may be based on age,
state in life (newly married couples,
moms groups), shared interests
(Scripture study, social action), faith
experiences (RENEW groups, Cur-
sillo) or other common ties.
The parish where I found the
young-adult club, for example, now
sponsors more than 20 groups, rang
ing from the Rite of Christian Initia
tion of Adults to an HIV/AIDS spiritu
ality group, the Homeless Services
Project, and groups for single men
and single women.
Rooted in parish life, small groups
provide a comfortable setting where
people can learn from and support
each other on a spiritual journey. The
U.S. Catholic bishops, in their 1995
statement “Called and Gifted for the
Third Millennium,” called these com
munities a “promising development”
for people who want to participate in
the church’s life and mission on a
smaller scale.
m m a
Small communities reveal the
church in miniature. While each
small community’s specific purpose is
different, they all share certain char
acteristics of the larger church.
First, members of small communi
ties share faith. They not only hold
the same beliefs but are willing to
reveal who God is for them. This ex
perience builds trust, understanding
and respect among the group mem
bers.
A colleague at work recounted the
story of his parish’s pastoral council.
Each month, after a quick prayer, the
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council moved quickly to its agenda.
One evening a council member sug
gested that the first 20 minutes of
each meeting be set aside for mem
bers to reflect on God’s word and how
God was working in their lives — in
other words, for faith-sharing.
Some members had misgivings,
wondering if they could complete the
pastoral-council work in the reduced
amount of time. They agreed to try
the suggestion, however, and were
amazed by the results. They not only
completed the agenda each month,
but meetings became much more har
monious and productive.
As council members came to see
Christ in each other, the bonds of
faith deepened, unity grew and the
work became more effective.
Second, small groups have an in
ward focus. Their members care for,
support and challenge each other on
the spiritual journey. They provide a
community of friends that makes
spiritual growth possible.
When my father died four years
ago, members of my mother’s parish
Leisure Club rallied around her.
Their presence and comforting words
at the wake and funeral moved her to
tears. Many had lost their own
spouses; they knew her grief and
loneliness.
In the months after the funeral one
woman called my mother almost ev
ery evening to see how she was doing.
Several women, deciding that she
needed more social opportunities, in
vited her to join their Fun Bunch.
Others challenged her to assume a
leadership role in Meals on Wheels.
The group helped her to see that God
still had a purpose for her. They gave
her the gift of hope.
Third, as with the larger church,
small groups have an outward focus.
They are called to transform the
world by using their members’ di
verse gifts and talents.
A variety of small groups within a
parish allows individuals to use their
God-given gifts effectively:
—We need people with a gift for
intercessory prayer who meet each
week to pray for the needs of the par
ish and the community.
—We need activists who can advo
cate for the homeless and march for
the unborn.
—We need those who can visit the
sick and the imprisoned.
No one person and no one group
can do it all, but working together we
can change our part of the world.
Finally, small groups are con
nected to each other and to the larger
faith community through the Eucha
rist. Our common worship, especially
on Sunday, unites us.
Important as our own small group
is, it is not the whole church. At the
Sunday Eucharist we recognize and
celebrate the eyes, ears, hands and
feet that make us the body of Christ.
Above all we celebrate God’s love that
draws us together as a community of
communities.
(Garcia is associate director of the
U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Family,
Laity, Women and Youth.)
FOODFORTHOUGHT
One way of renewing parishes, especially urgent for parishes in large
cities, might be to consider the parish as a community of communities
and movements, ” Pope John Paul II wrote in early 1999 (“The Church in
America”).
He said that it “seems timely” to form communities and groups within
parishes that are “of a size that allows for true human relationships. ”
What these groups offer, he said, is a “human context” for members.
He explained:
“In such a human context it will be easier to gather to hear the word of
God, to reflect on the range of human problems in the light of this word
and gradually to make responsible decisions inspired by the all-embracing
love of Christ.”
These small groups are not ends unto themselves, however. The pope
indicated that the group’s spirit of “communion” ought to spread into the
larger parish and the larger church.
A parish renewed in this way, the pope affirmed, can “gather people in
community, assist family life, overcome the sense of anonymity, welcome
people and help them to be involved in their neighborhood and society.”
30 David Gibson, Editor, Faith Alive!