Parish Renewal Will Focus on Evangelization
of Persons and Cultures
By Monsignor Vincent J. Grimalia, V.G. 

The renewal of parishes in the Diocese of Scranton is entering the preparatory phase.

Bishop Martino had mandated that by Feb. 4, 2007, all parishes were to have fully functioning Parish Pastoral Councils. Two workshops were held last fall to help in the establishment of these councils. In April and May, workshops on the Parish Mission Statement were conducted. By Oct. 30, all pastors are to submit a Parish Mission Statement to their appropriate Regional Episcopal Vicar. This is the first step in parish self-study and parish pastoral planning.

In his July 22, 2004 Pastoral Letter, Bishop Martino stated: “Once parish Pastoral Councils and Finance Councils are in place, all parishes will begin a period of Parish Self-Study. Through this carefully disciplined process, each parish will create a snapshot of how well it is fulfilling – or not fulfilling – sufficiently its mission to announce the Good News in Word, Sacrament and through a serving Community. Once each parish sees it strengths and weaknesses, its proud accomplishments and its inevitable deficiencies, it can plan with nearby parishes to see if there is a better way to serve ‘the neighborhood of parishes.’ Are joint efforts possible, for example, instead of overlapping separate efforts?”

Bishop Martino continued: “Once our pastoral planning is accomplished at the various grassroots levels, we will then begin to see the contours of a diocesan pastoral plan. This will take into consideration the rich diversity of our diocese throughout its entire 11 counties: the areas of population growth and decline, the economic realities faced by our people, and the new immigrants who deserve a generous Scranton diocesan welcome. I also envision a Diocesan Pastoral Council of clergy, religious and laity as a means by which I will receive good advice from the grassroots. In addition, a Diocesan Pastoral Council will enable us all to see that the Catholic Church to which we belong is not just in our parish or neighborhood, but is vibrantly present in 11 Pennsylvania counties. We will understand in a practical way that the Catholic Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic – not just someplace else, but right here!”

This fall there will be further workshops for the ongoing formation of Parish Pastoral Councils to prepare them spiritually and theologically for the parish self-study, with the focus on the evangelization of persons and cultures.

Pope Paul VI, in his apostolic exhortation on evangelization, noted: “The split between the Gospel and culture is without a doubt the drama of our time, just as it was of other times. Therefore every effort must be made to ensure a full evangelization of culture, or more correctly of cultures. They have to be regenerated by an encounter with the Gospel. But this encounter will not take place if the Gospel is not proclaimed.”

Each parish needs to evaluate the internal as well as external culture of the parish. The internal culture of the parish includes attitudes, beliefs, values, practices, understandings, history and heritage. These and other factors need to be identified and evangelized. Ongoing faith and moral formation is necessary for all age groups within a parish and for all of the parish structures and organizations, and for staff and volunteers.

Pope John Paul II once wrote: “A faith that does not become culture is a faith that has not been fully received, not fully and thoroughly thought through, not fully lived out.” Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, once made a similar statement: “Faith itself is culture. There is no such thing as naked faith or mere religion. Simply stated, insofar as faith tells man who he is, faith creates culture.” 

The Gospel must penetrate society as light, salt and leaven, and it must begin within the parish community. In the parish self-study and pastoral planning, each parish needs to look at its heritage and traditions. Are parish traditions and customs alive and life-giving for ongoing faith and moral formation in our region today?

Cardinal Avery Dulles, reflecting on the relationship of faith and culture, noted: “Although it immerses itself in cultures and interacts with them, Christianity is never reducible to a given culture or any combination of cultures. As divine revelation it stands above all cultures, challenging and criticizing them. Because every culture is finite and deficient, no one culture can reflect the full power of the word of God. Christianity, therefore, is most fittingly expressed in a variety of cultures.”

Writing in his encyclical Slavorum Apostoli, Pope John Paul II comments on the use of culture in missionary outreach, when he noted: “For the purposes of evangelization, the two holy Brothers (Saints Cyril and Methodius) … undertook the difficult task of translating the texts of the Sacred Scriptures, which they knew in Greek, into the language of the Slav population… Making use of their own Greek language and culture for this arduous and unusual enterprise, they set themselves to understanding and penetrating the language, customs and traditions of the Slav peoples, faithfully interpreting the aspirations and human values which were present and expressed therein.” They developed a model that is still instructive for us today as we look at the interaction of faith and culture. If Cyril and Methodius were living today, and ministering in our country, how would they go about “penetrating the language, customs and traditions” of the people living in the territory of our Diocese? They would purify the culture of the United States as they exercised their evangelizing mission. As Pope John Paul stated, their example raises important questions for us as we look to the present and future of the Diocese of Scranton and its mission.

In a related question, a parish during its self-study needs to look at its history. Why was it established? What was its mission in the past? What is its mission today?

We should remember that all parishes in the Diocese of Scranton were organized to serve immigrants who brought their faith and culture with them to a new country. Some parishes were organized as territorial – encompassing all people living within a particular geographic area. Other parishes were established to serve specific ethnic groups, primarily because of language issues.

Bishop Martino, in his July 2004 Pastoral Letter, raised these important questions that must be answered during parish self-study: “The spiritual and pastoral renewal of the Diocese of Scranton will mean that 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?”

Bishop Martino’s questions focus our attention on the mission of the Church and the mission of the parish, not on the maintenance of buildings, structures or traditions. In fact, his questions remind us that parish buildings are for the sake of assisting and supporting the mission of the parish. The mission of the parish is an evangelizing mission that touches every aspect of parish life and pastoral care. The mission of the parish should never be reduced to maintaining buildings to the neglect of its mission.

Further, every parish needs to prayerfully study itself in the light of the Eucharist, which is the source and summit of the life and mission of the Church and every parish. A study of the Apostolic Exhortation Sacrament of Charity by Pope Benedict and two documents by Pope John Paul II will help every parish. In the encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia and in the Apostolic Letter Dominicae Cenae, Pope John Paul reflected on the Eucharist and made practical applications to the life of individuals and communities. Parishes wishing to study their life and mission in the light of the Eucharist, will be greatly helped by these three Eucharistic documents. All three documents are available on the Vatican website: www.vatican.va.

In addition, the parish needs to analyze the external surrounding culture of the parish if it is to be effective in its mission. The Parish Pastoral Council, through prayer, study and deliberation, can provide valuable assistance to the pastor and parishioners to become aware of their responsibility, vocation and mission. The parish self-study and parish pastoral plan will help identify strengths and weaknesses in the internal and external culture of the parish. One area of concern is a sense of responsibility and active participation, not only in the liturgy, but active participation in the mission of the Church and in the diocese and parish. Hopefully, the parish mission statement will focus parish life on its essential mission.

While visiting England, Pope John Paul II, in a Pentecost Homily on May 30, 1982, spoke these words to youth that have meaning for everyone:

“On that first Pentecost our Savior gave the Apostles the power to forgive sins when he poured into their hearts the gift of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit comes to you today in the Sacrament of Confirmation, to involve you more completely in the Church’s fight against sin and in her mission of fostering holiness. He comes to dwell more fully in your hearts and to strengthen you for the struggle with evil. My dear young people, the world of today needs you, for it needs men and women who are filled with the Holy Spirit. It needs your courage and hopefulness, your faith and your perseverance. The world of tomorrow will be built by you. Today you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit so that you may work with deep faith and with abiding charity, so that you may help to bring to the world the fruits of reconciliation and peace. Strengthened by the Holy Spirit and his manifold gifts, commit yourselves wholeheartedly to the Church’s struggle against sin. Strive to be unselfish; try not to be obsessed with material things. Be active members of the People of God; be reconciled with each other and devoted to the work of justice, which will bring peace on earth.”

Because all Christians are shaped by culture and called to shape culture in the light of the Gospel, all members of the Church need to come to an understanding of culture and its qualities or characteristics. Pope John Paul taught: “At the heart of every mystery lies the attitude man takes to the greatest mystery: the mystery of God. Different cultures are basically different ways of facing the question of the meaning of personal existence. When this question is eliminated, the culture and moral life of nations are corrupted.”

It is important to identify elements of our national and local culture and to evaluate them.

The Summary of the National Directory for Catechesis noted several characteristics of American culture: emphasis on freedom, including religious and economic freedom, without a corresponding emphasis on responsibility; a separation of faith and public life, making religion a private matter; moral relativism, and a failure to make a moral evaluation of science and technology.

In the Apostolic Exhortation Sacrament of Charity, Pope Benedict taught: “The Eucharist becomes a criterion for our evaluation of everything that Christianity encounters in different cultures.” Of course we must begin by evaluating the internal culture of our parishes and the surrounding external cultures to which the parish has a mission.

In an address to Canadian Bishops, Pope Benedict commented on the danger to faith when it is separated from life and culture. He noted: “In this regard, particular care must be taken to ensure that the intrinsic relationship between the Church’s Magisterium, individuals’ faith, and testimony in public life is preserved and promoted. Only in this way can we hope to overcome the debilitating split between the Gospel and culture” (cf. Evangelii Nuntiandi, no. 20).

Pope Benedict has called for a “Eucharistic consistency,” a way of living where faith is not separated and compartmentalized from life: “Worship pleasing to God can never be a purely private matter, without consequences for our relationships with others: it demands a public witness to our faith. Evidently, this is true for all the baptized, yet it is especially incumbent upon those who, by virtue of their social or political position, must make decisions regarding fundamental values…these values are not negotiable.”

He further stated: “Catholic politicians and legislators, conscious of their grave responsibility before society, must feel particularly bound, on the basis of a properly formed conscience, to introduce and support laws inspired by values grounded in human nature. There is an objective connection here with the Eucharist” (cf. 1 Cor 11: 27-29).

Ongoing formation in faith and morals is a major responsibility of the parish. Adult faith formation is important today, given the complex questions that are posed by our society. To answer these questions with mature faith, adult faith and moral formation is a life-long necessity.