Louis BIRA SX
Converted in view of bringing the Gospel closer to the people is the invitation that the Congregation for the Clergy extended to parish communities in its Instruction of June 29, 2020: ‘The pastoral conversion of the parish community at the service of the evangelizing mission of the Church’[1]. In addition to the word of God, the text draws its orientations from the Second Vatican Council and the recent teaching of Pope Francis, above all his wish for a Church that is less hierarchical and less bureaucratic. The conversion of parish communities then means the promotion of a style of communion and collaboration, of encounter and closeness, of mercy and of concern for the proclamation of the Gospel (n. 2).
According to the Instruction, it is the current developments in our societies that make the pastoral conversion of parishes urgent. In the past, the parish community was identified with the territorial community. However, with current mobility, the territorial configuration of the parish no longer holds. The eruption of digital culture with regard to notions of time and space and its consequences for human relationships require rethinking of how the gospel can reach people where they live. Faced with the virtual relationships that digital culture promotes, parish communities are invited to discover themselves as “existential territories” (n.16) where concrete relationships are possible among people.
The reform desired by the Instruction is neither simply for the survival of the ecclesial institution nor a simple sharing of power between different members of the parish community. The mission, in the sense of making the Gospel accessible, is the criterion of renewal. This is the top priority. The renewal of evangelization requires new attentions and diversified proposals, so that the Word of God and the sacramental life can reach everyone, in a way that is in accord with the state of life of each person says the Instruction. (n.18).
Part of the conversion of the parish, is its ‘declericalization’ without, however, secularizing it. On the contrary, the parish community should become a place where ordained ministers and lay people collaborate so that Christ and his Gospel shine. Therefore, a converted parish cannot remain in the sole hands of ordained ministers. The parish is not the property of the parish priest. It is the good of all the baptized. It must become a community where each baptized person rediscovers his vocation as a disciple of Jesus and missionary of the Gospel (n. 11). All parish structures only have meaning if they stimulate all the baptized to meet Christ and bear witness to his Gospel. This common goal of the existence of the parish is only possible if there is a change of mentality and an interior renewal, especially among those who are called to be responsible for pastoral leadership; namely the priests (n.35). In this sense, the Instruction recalls that it is the parish priest who is at the service of the parish and not the opposite (n. 69). So no more expressions like these: my parish, my faithful, my collection…!
In the expected conversion process, the text invites to revalue all the organizations of ecclesial co-responsibility; especially the Council for Economic Affairs and the Parish Pastoral Council. Even if under the Canon law, these two structures are consultative, that does not mean they are incidental and that we can simply ignore them in decisions-making. In a world fond of possessions and the accumulation of goods by all means, the Council for Economic Affairs becomes a school for the promotion of the good of the community - because the goods of the parish do not belong to the parish priest but to the whole parish community (n.107). It is also the place for the realization of the culture of co-responsibility and administrative transparency (n. 106). The importance given to the management of Church property goes beyond a simple managerial art. Because the management of the goods of each parish constitutes an important field of evangelization and evangelical witness; before the Church and civil society, says the Instruction (n. 101).
For its part, the Parish Pastoral Council, far from being a simple bureaucratic body, should be seen in its theological dimension. For it highlights and realizes the central character of the People of God as the subject and living actor of the evangelizing mission, because, through baptism and confirmation, each faithful has received the gifts of the Spirit (n.110). Discovering the Parish Pastoral Council in this way gives it another meaning more than the advisory character often emphasized by accommodatingly relying on the Code of Canon Law, itself cited as a civil legislative book, which is wrong. Discernment, in the sense of the common search for the will of God for his people, is the main purpose of the Parish Pastoral Council. And in this process, the pastor does not have a monopoly on the Spirit of Truth. This spirit is given to all the baptized people.
Even if this Instruction is not a new teaching with regard to the parish as a place of encounter with Christ through the proclamation of the Gospel, the celebration of the sacraments and the witness of charity, it is true that read in an African ecclesial context, it brings new insights especially in its calls:
a) to develop in our parishes "the art of proximity" (n .26) as a remedy for the anonymity which is observed in large communities;
b) to priests, deacons and consecrated people to feel compassion for “the wounded flesh” (n. 33) as an antidote against the clerical and religious bourgeoisie that does not hear the cries of the poor.
c) to pastors to discover the evangelical and missionary character in the management of the goods of the Church and therefore to preach more by example; which would make their sermons against corruption and mismanagement of many States in Africa audible and credible;
d) to the whole parish community to revitalize the properly pastoral and missionary character of the Parish Pastoral Council and thus to prevent it from the distraction that is currently observed there where, according to Father Eloi Messi Metogo, instead of focusing on the way of proclaiming the Gospel and witnessing to it, people spend time talking about the tithes, the construction of religious buildings, the organization of parish feasts and pilgrimages and the material care of priests [… ][2].
[1] Find the full text here: www.vatican.va
[2] Cf. E. Messi Metogo, “Aparecida 2007. An African point of view” in Spiritus 193 (12/2008), p. 473.
Converted in view of bringing the Gospel closer to the people is the invitation that the Congregation for the Clergy extended to parish communities in its Instruction of June 29, 2020: ‘The pastoral conversion of the parish community at the service of the evangelizing mission of the Church’[1]. In addition to the word of God, the text draws its orientations from the Second Vatican Council and the recent teaching of Pope Francis, above all his wish for a Church that is less hierarchical and less bureaucratic. The conversion of parish communities then means the promotion of a style of communion and collaboration, of encounter and closeness, of mercy and of concern for the proclamation of the Gospel (n. 2).
According to the Instruction, it is the current developments in our societies that make the pastoral conversion of parishes urgent. In the past, the parish community was identified with the territorial community. However, with current mobility, the territorial configuration of the parish no longer holds. The eruption of digital culture with regard to notions of time and space and its consequences for human relationships require rethinking of how the gospel can reach people where they live. Faced with the virtual relationships that digital culture promotes, parish communities are invited to discover themselves as “existential territories” (n.16) where concrete relationships are possible among people.
The reform desired by the Instruction is neither simply for the survival of the ecclesial institution nor a simple sharing of power between different members of the parish community. The mission, in the sense of making the Gospel accessible, is the criterion of renewal. This is the top priority. The renewal of evangelization requires new attentions and diversified proposals, so that the Word of God and the sacramental life can reach everyone, in a way that is in accord with the state of life of each person says the Instruction. (n.18).
Part of the conversion of the parish, is its ‘declericalization’ without, however, secularizing it. On the contrary, the parish community should become a place where ordained ministers and lay people collaborate so that Christ and his Gospel shine. Therefore, a converted parish cannot remain in the sole hands of ordained ministers. The parish is not the property of the parish priest. It is the good of all the baptized. It must become a community where each baptized person rediscovers his vocation as a disciple of Jesus and missionary of the Gospel (n. 11). All parish structures only have meaning if they stimulate all the baptized to meet Christ and bear witness to his Gospel. This common goal of the existence of the parish is only possible if there is a change of mentality and an interior renewal, especially among those who are called to be responsible for pastoral leadership; namely the priests (n.35). In this sense, the Instruction recalls that it is the parish priest who is at the service of the parish and not the opposite (n. 69). So no more expressions like these: my parish, my faithful, my collection…!
In the expected conversion process, the text invites to revalue all the organizations of ecclesial co-responsibility; especially the Council for Economic Affairs and the Parish Pastoral Council. Even if under the Canon law, these two structures are consultative, that does not mean they are incidental and that we can simply ignore them in decisions-making. In a world fond of possessions and the accumulation of goods by all means, the Council for Economic Affairs becomes a school for the promotion of the good of the community - because the goods of the parish do not belong to the parish priest but to the whole parish community (n.107). It is also the place for the realization of the culture of co-responsibility and administrative transparency (n. 106). The importance given to the management of Church property goes beyond a simple managerial art. Because the management of the goods of each parish constitutes an important field of evangelization and evangelical witness; before the Church and civil society, says the Instruction (n. 101).
For its part, the Parish Pastoral Council, far from being a simple bureaucratic body, should be seen in its theological dimension. For it highlights and realizes the central character of the People of God as the subject and living actor of the evangelizing mission, because, through baptism and confirmation, each faithful has received the gifts of the Spirit (n.110). Discovering the Parish Pastoral Council in this way gives it another meaning more than the advisory character often emphasized by accommodatingly relying on the Code of Canon Law, itself cited as a civil legislative book, which is wrong. Discernment, in the sense of the common search for the will of God for his people, is the main purpose of the Parish Pastoral Council. And in this process, the pastor does not have a monopoly on the Spirit of Truth. This spirit is given to all the baptized people.
Even if this Instruction is not a new teaching with regard to the parish as a place of encounter with Christ through the proclamation of the Gospel, the celebration of the sacraments and the witness of charity, it is true that read in an African ecclesial context, it brings new insights especially in its calls:
a) to develop in our parishes "the art of proximity" (n .26) as a remedy for the anonymity which is observed in large communities;
b) to priests, deacons and consecrated people to feel compassion for “the wounded flesh” (n. 33) as an antidote against the clerical and religious bourgeoisie that does not hear the cries of the poor.
c) to pastors to discover the evangelical and missionary character in the management of the goods of the Church and therefore to preach more by example; which would make their sermons against corruption and mismanagement of many States in Africa audible and credible;
d) to the whole parish community to revitalize the properly pastoral and missionary character of the Parish Pastoral Council and thus to prevent it from the distraction that is currently observed there where, according to Father Eloi Messi Metogo, instead of focusing on the way of proclaiming the Gospel and witnessing to it, people spend time talking about the tithes, the construction of religious buildings, the organization of parish feasts and pilgrimages and the material care of priests [… ][2].
[1] Find the full text here: www.vatican.va
[2] Cf. E. Messi Metogo, “Aparecida 2007. An African point of view” in Spiritus 193 (12/2008), p. 473.