| Parish Renewal |
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| Monday, 30 October 2006 08:54 | |||
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What is the ultimate key to parish renewal? Pope Benedict XVI recently addressed the question anew (22 Sept.) and strongly reaffirmed the only response that can be offered; namely, the Holy Eucharist. As Vatican Council II declared, the Mass is “the source and sum-mit of the Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, 11) and the parish represents the focus of Christian life. Pope John Paul II, in his monumental encyclical on the Eucharist, wrote, in the very first sentence, “The Church draws her life from the Eucharist.” Moreover, parishes were defined by John Paul as “communities of the baptized who express and affirm their identity above all through the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice.” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 32) The word “parish” derives from the Greek through Latin; it originally meant a temporary dwelling “alongside one’s house” – a pied à terre, in a sense, alongside one’s eternal homeland, a temporary lodging during this span of years prior to entrance into eternal life. As an institution its origins date from Apostolic times but it cannot be relegated to the storerooms of antiquity, as if it were no longer relevant within a rapidly changing world. That parishes require re-peated renewal is a valid testament to the dynamics of change. That this renewal lies essentially in any other direc-tion than the Mass and Holy Communion is not a valid assertion. All the so-called “new” programs of updating parish life, from TV advertising and various social service over-tures to banners, clowns, pop music and dancing troupes, pale in significance and efficacy before the one necessary element: the Mass. This, of course, means solid liturgy, reverentially conducted; carefully constructed and executed homilies; truly doctrinal music which serves the liturgy (not the other way around), as well as Eucharistic devotions regularly held in preparation or in thanksgiving for the Eucharistic sacrifice. As Pope Benedict puts it: “Thus, the hoped for renewal of parishes cannot only result from pastoral initiatives, albeit useful and timely, nor even less from programs worked out theoretically… ” Rather, “parishes ‘rediscover’ themselves in the encounter with Christ, especially in the Eucharist.” All of the above also refers to how social service programs in a parish are conducted. Without the Mass, these too are ineffective insofar as authentic parish life is concerned. Granted that social service largely mirrors the Gospel imperative of Christian fellowship or community or solidarity. (κoiνωνia in the Greek). But Christian fellowship is Biblically based on love of God in himself, and the Eucharist is the supreme art of worship. Mother Teresa, for example, was the personification of love for the poorest of the poor, but her strength (and that of her Sisters) was sourced and energized by daily Mass. In Pope Benedict’s words again: “Nourished by the Eucharistic bread, they grow in Catholic communion, developing in full fidelity to the Magisterium and [becoming] ever attentive to accepting and discerning the different charisms that the Lord brings forth in the People of God… Parishes find strength in constant union with Christ in order to dedicate themselves without interruption to the service of the brethren, especially the poor, for whom they in fact represent the first reference point.” One can never forget that parishes are, in the final analysis, realities of faith, not merely sociological units. Thus, the Holy Father insists, a correct understanding of any parish is impossible without reference to the Scriptures, such as the Book of Acts, where we read about the primordial Christian community of Jerusalem whose members were devoted to the Apostles’ preaching, teaching and fellowship, and to the “breaking of bread and the prayers” – “a welcoming, supportive community ready to share everything.”
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