Models
for Profound Parish Renewal
By Monsignor Vincent J. Grimalia, V.G.
As every student of Church history becomes aware, each time and place
presents opportunities and challenges for
the Church and its evangelizing mission.
The history of the Diocese of Scranton likewise shows how a variety of
challenges and opportunities were met: early
settlement and establishment of churches in
the 11 counties, becoming a diocese in 1868,
responding to the arrival of various
Catholic immigrant groups of both eastern
and western traditions, and various language
and cultural heritages were some of the more
salient challenges. Today the influence of
secularism, relativism, consumerism,
individualism and the culture of death are
among some of the factors that provide a
challenge for the Diocese of Scranton and
for every Catholic parish and institution.
Church and
Parish As
Mission
of Evangelization
“The Church exists only if it evangelizes, and the same is true for
the parish. If a parish does not evangelize,
it is only a building,” said Archbishop
Ranjith in a recent statement that
succinctly and clearly expresses the reason
for a parish. A parish is not a museum, it
is a mission. A parish is not a historical
monument, but the living body of Christ.
Pope Paul VI in his Apostolic Letter on Evangelization states:
“Evangelizing is in fact the grace and
vocation proper to the Church, her deepest
identity. She exists in order to evangelize,
that is to say, in order to preach and
teach, to be the channel of the gift of
grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to
perpetuate Christ's sacrifice in the Mass,
which is the memorial of His death and
glorious resurrection… The Church is an
evangelizer, but she begins by being
evangelized herself. She is the community of
believers, the community of hope lived and
communicated, the community of brotherly
love, and she needs to listen unceasingly to
what she must believe, to her reasons for
hoping, to the new commandment of love.
“She is the People of God immersed in the world, and often tempted by
idols, and she always needs to hear the
proclamation of the ‘mighty works of
God’ [41] which converted her to the Lord;
she always needs to be called together
afresh by Him and reunited. In brief, this
means that she has a constant need of being
evangelized, if she wishes to retain
freshness, vigor and strength in order to
proclaim the Gospel. The Second Vatican
Council recalled and the 1974 Synod
vigorously took up again this theme of the
Church which is evangelized by constant
conversion and renewal, in order to
evangelize the world with credibility.” (Evangelii
Nuntiandi)
Pope John Paul II in Christifideles Laici and in Redemptoris Missio
connected communion and mission: “The call
to mission derives, of its nature, from the
call to holiness….The universal call to
holiness is closely linked to the universal
call to mission. Every member of the
faithful is called to holiness and to
mission.” (#90, Redemptoris Missio)
“Communion with Jesus, which gives rise to the communion of
Christians among themselves, is an
indispensable condition for bearing fruit:
‘Apart from me you can do nothing’ (John
15:5). And communion with others is the most
magnificent fruit that the branches can
give: in fact, it is the gift of Christ and
His Spirit… Communion and mission are
profoundly connected with each other, they
interpenetrate and mutually imply each
other, to the point that communion
represents both the source and the fruit of
mission: communion gives rise to mission and
mission is accomplished in communion.”
(# 32, Christifideles Laici)
Challenge of
the 21st Century
How many and where are parishes needed for the Diocese of Scranton to
fulfill its mission in the 21st century? How
do we exercise a responsible stewardship of
limited resources? How can our efforts be
more effective and fruitful?
These are some of the important questions that our pastoral planning
process is raising to prayerfully and
prudently respond to the concerns of Bishop
Martino: “…we need to look at every one
of our structures, i.e., our parishes,
schools, institutions, buildings and
programs. Are these entities the right ones
for the 21st century? Are these entities
currently prepared to announce the Good News
of Jesus Christ as Jesus intends them to
do?” (Pastoral Letter, July 22, 2004)
Our pastoral planning process is also attempting to clarify the mission
of the parish, its reason for existence at a
certain location, and take the focus off the
maintenance of structures established in
earlier times for possibly a different set
of circumstances and challenges.
Our Diocesan
Mission
Statement Provides Direction
Acts 2: 42 47 is the inspiration for our Diocesan Mission Statement,
the four parts of the Catholic Catechism and
the four dimensions of parish life that will
promote a direction for “profound parish
renewal.” In each of the four sections of
the Catholic Catechism, there is a reference
to this scripture passage. For example “In
the first community of
Jerusalem
, believers ‘devoted themselves to the
apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the
breaking of bread, and the prayers.’ This
sequence is characteristic of the church’s
prayer: founded on the apostolic faith;
authenticated by charity; nourished in the
Eucharist.” (CC# 2624, Part IV- Christian
Prayer). This scripture passage, our
Diocesan Mission Statement, and the Catholic
Catechism can provide focus and content for
our “profound parish renewal.”
Writing in God is Near Us, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict
XVI, reflected on the prayer after communion
for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul,
which was inspired by Acts 2:42: “Lord,
renew the life of your Church with the power
of this sacrament. May the breaking of the
bread and the teaching of the apostles keep
us united in your love.” He made a
statement and raised a question about the
prayer: “It asks that the Church today,
and ever anew, may be again the way she was
then in her beginning… Now what is being
said here about the Church? It says ‘They
devoted themselves to the apostles’
teaching, and fellowship, to the breaking of
bread and the prayers.’
“We can see in this a sketch of the primitive Christian service of
worship, which starts with the teaching of
the apostles, that is, with the proclamation
and hearing of the faith of the Church, of
the Word of God that is alive in her and
that thus becomes the basis for liturgical
and living fellowship; it reaches the climax
in the Eucharistic encounter with the
Lord…”
This same scripture passage was used in the Message to the People of
God, from the 1987 World Synod of Bishops on
the Laity:
“Bishops, priests and deacons: let us form living communities
assiduous in the teaching of the apostles,
the community of the faithful, in the
breaking of bread and prayer.’(Acts 2:42).
Let us receive and accept the gifts of the
Spirit in the lay faithful, and let us
stimulate the sense of communion and
responsibility.”
One of the ways to look at the Church is from the perspective of the
four marks or signs of the Church: One,
Holy, catholic and apostolic. Another way of
looking at the Church and parish is from the
perspective of Word, Worship, Community and
Service. Both of these approaches focus on
the Church as Vocation, Stewardship,
Communion and
Mission
.
Word
Then-Cardinal Ratzinger, commenting on Acts 2, stated: “Human life
is, in the first place, a search for
meaning, the search for some message that
can show me my path and give me
direction.” How does the parish help
people to find meaning? Through the
scriptures, the teaching of the apostles,
the teaching of the Church. The Church and
each parish is an evangelizing mission.
Catechesis, religious formation for all
ages, communication of the teaching of the
Church is an essential aspect of the Church
and parish.
The late Cardinal Avery Dulles, writing in Models of the Church,
described various aspects or dimensions of
the Church: Church as institution, mystical
communion, sacrament, herald, servant and
community of disciples. Father Timothy E.
Byerley, writing in The Great Commission:
Models of Evangelization in American
Catholicism, looks at different ways of
evangelization: The St. Stephen Model –
witness, the Jerusalem Model – Liturgy,
the Proclamation Model – preaching, the
Fraternity Model – small communities, the
Areopagus Model – inculturation, and the
Loaves and Fishes model – charity. Reading
both books can help a person come to a
deeper understanding of the mission of the
parish.
For example, the thoughts of Cardinal Dulles on the Church as herald
and Byerley reflecting from the perspective
of the proclamation model stimulate thinking
concerning evangelization, catechesis, and
religious formation. Both books can help a
Parish Council and parishioners in general
come to a deeper understanding of the Church
from the dimension of the Word. The Saint
Stephen Model with emphasis on witness
according to Byerley has implications for
Christian education.
Community
Cardinal Ratzinger in God is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life
states, “Because of its whole direction,
life is a search for supportive Community,
since man is created for community. It is a
search for a love that shares, that teaches
us to trust, and that can be trusted right
to the end in mutual giving.”
This is important, especially in our individualistic culture.
Understanding the Eucharist and cooperating
with the grace of the Eucharist helps us
grow in unity and community. Divisions,
factions and separations are to be avoided
and overcome. How is the parish bearing the
fruit of the Spirit? What is the quality of
its life and fellowship?
Cardinal Dulles looks at the church as both institution and as mystical
communion. Byerley looks at the Church and
parish from the perspective of the
fraternity model and small faith
communities. Again, new insights can help a
parish rediscover its mission.
Worship
In his aforementioned book, Cardinal Ratzinger states: “And thus it
is a demand that the world should be
transformed by love into praise: prayer
embraces the whole world, and the world is
comprehended in prayer.” He further notes:
“Ultimately the Church draws her life from
the Eucharist, from this real, self-giving
presence of the Lord… Christ genuinely
shared himself out, gave himself with the
torn up bread, so that his life might be
ours… it is immediately clear that we can
devote ourselves to the breaking of the
bread only if we ourselves become breakers
of bread in the fullest sense. Hence, the
Eucharist is the true motive power for all
social transformation in the world.
“From Elizabeth of Hungary, by way of Nicholas of Flue and Vincent de
Paul, right up to Mother Teresa, it is
evident that wherever the gestures of the
Lord, the breaker of bread, are accepted,
then the breaking of bread must be carried
on right into everyday life. There is no
longer any stranger who means nothing to me;
rather there is a brother there who calls on
me and who is waiting for the broken bread,
to find a resting place in love.”
Cardinal Dulles in Models of the Church describes the Church as
sacrament. Father Byerley in The Great
Commission looks at evangelization from the
Jerusalem
model described in Acts 2:42, 46a and 47
with a focus on Liturgy.
Service
The last judgment scene in Matthew 25 offers an example of service that
inspired the seven spiritual and corporal
works of mercy. These examples were meant to
inspire other examples of how individuals
and the Christian community can put the
commandment of Charity into practice through
practical, humble, loving service.
Pope John Paul II, in his letter Dominicae Cenae and in his encyclical
on the Eucharist, and Pope Benedict XVI in
his Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum
Caritatis, provides material for prayer and
study that help individuals and communities
to live the grace of the Holy Eucharist.
In Models of the Church, Cardinal Dulles reflects on the Church as
servant. Writing in The Great Commission,
Father Byerley reflects on the
responsibility of charity as he describes
evangelization from a model that he calls
the “loaves and fishes model.” Prayer
and reflection on the evangelizing mission
of the Church and parish will help
parishioners understand the challenge of
today, as we prepare for ongoing spiritual
and pastoral renewal.
