A Reflection on the Year of the Parish as Communion of Communities (Part 2)

Pastoral care and tenderness

Jesus, the evangelizer par excellence and the Gospel in person, identifies especially with the little ones (cf. Mt 25:40). This reminds us Christians that we are called to care for the vulnerable of the earth. But the current model, with its emphasis on success and self-reliance, does not appear to favour an investment in efforts to help the slow, the weak or the less talented to find opportunities in life. (EG 209)

It is not enough to be passersby on the digital highways, simply “connected”; connections need to grow into true encounters. We cannot live apart, closed in on ourselves. We need to love and to be loved. We need tenderness. (Pope Francis, 48th WCS)

On the micro-level many a community among the marginalized has been empowered by its faith, a faith that, as in the Basic Ecclesial Communities, externalizes itself in alternative institutions and services responding to the life needs of the grassroots. (PCP II, 259)

Thomas thus explains that, as far as external works are concerned, mercy is the greatest of all the virtues: “In itself mercy is the greatest of the virtues, since all the others revolve around it and, more than this, it makes up for their deficiencies. (EG 37)

As parish priest, he exercises pastoral care by being joyful and welcoming to the parents requesting Baptism for their children, and to adults who wish to be baptized. It is also his pastoral role to facilitate those requesting Baptism in another parish. (Article 2, number 1, Pastoral and Catechetical Primer on the Sacraments, Archdiocese of Davao, 2017)

Sense of belongingness and welcome

The second suggestion for us to promote communion is to let everyone feel a sense of belongingness and welcome. In the story of the Prodigal son (Lk. 15:11-32), the father welcomed the lost son and let the elder son understand that his brother still belongs to them.

We must recognize that if part of our baptized people lack a sense of belonging to the Church, this is also due to certain structures and the occasionally unwelcoming atmosphere of some of our parishes and communities, or to a bureaucratic way of dealing with problems, be they simple or complex, in the lives of our people. (Evangelii Gaudium 63)

With the parish priest, our parish staff and volunteers need to be sensitive to our parishioners, especially to those whose faith and spiritual formation are not that deep. As the front desk of the parish, our staff and volunteers must be friendly and accommodating even in answering queries whether in phone or in personal appearance of our parishioners. From asking questions on the amount of stole fees to the schedule of sacramental celebrations and from the need to know how to join the different groups and apostolate to the need of being familiar to people and places in the parish, our staff and volunteers need patience and pleasing personality.

It (parish) is a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey, and a centre of constant missionary outreach. (Evangelii Gaudium 28)

May the light we bring to others not be the result of cosmetics or special effects, but rather of our being loving and merciful “neighbours” to those wounded and left on the side of the road. (Pope Francis, 48th World Communications Sunday)

“Pastors therefore should have to devise new and effective ways of shepherding the faithful, so that the faithful will feel part of the parish family where each one is important, each one is needed, each one served and called to serve.” (PCP II 600-601)

“Neighborliness”: A Proposal in Promoting Communion in the Parish

Knowing a few challenges which serve as context of our pursuit for communion, what attitudes do we need to develop in order to make our parish a community of communities. How can we promote communion in the parish?

Pope Francis emphasizes that the parish is the presence of the Church in a given territory, an environment for hearing God’s word, for growth in the Christian life, for dialogue, proclamation, charitable outreach, worship and celebration (EG 28).

“A parish should be a dynamic Eucharistic and evangelizing community of communities, a center that energizes movements, Basic Ecclesial Communities and other apostolic groups and in turn nourished by them.” (PCP II 600-601)

What does it mean for us, as disciples of the Lord, to encounter others in the light of the Gospel? In spite of our own limitations and sinfulness, how do we draw truly close to one another? These questions are summed up in what a scribe – a communicator – once asked Jesus: “And who is my neighbour?” (Lk 10:29). This question can help us to see communication in terms of “neighbourliness”… I find an answer in the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is also a parable about communication. Those who communicate, in effect, become neighbours. The Good Samaritan not only draws nearer to the man he finds half dead on the side of the road; he takes responsibility for him. Jesus shifts our understanding: it is not just about seeing the other as someone like myself, but of the ability to make myself like the other. (Pope Francis, 48th WCS)

Neighborhoods function when people are neither too close nor too far, not overly involved in each other’s lives but not indifferent to each other. It involves face-to-face relationships that go beyond the faceless world of the political, on the one hand, and the intimate and private world of family and friends, on the other hand. In other words, we are not condemned to relating only either as friends or enemies. We can also be neighbors. (Fr. Antonio Pernia, Davao Clergy Retreat, November 16-20, 2015)

Neighborliness is all about contributing. It is about giving and receiving.

In order to promote communion, that is, a culture of encounter or neighborliness, we offer a proposal.

Pastoral care

In order to promote communion, that is, a culture of encounter or neighborliness, here is a proposal. First we need to exercise pastoral care. In handling the case of the adulterous woman, Jesus was so caring as a shepherd (John 7:53-8:11) to His flock, both the obedient and the erring ones.

It is undeniable that many people feel disillusioned and no longer identify with the Catholic tradition. Growing numbers of parents do not bring their children for baptism or teach them how to pray. There is also a certain exodus towards other faith communities. The causes of this breakdown include: a lack of opportunity for dialogue in families, the influence of the communications media… lack of pastoral care among the poor, the failure of our institutions to be welcoming… (EG 70)

In many places an administrative approach prevails over a pastoral approach, as does a concentration on administering the sacraments apart from other forms of evangelization. (EG 63)

Since this Exhortation is addressed to members of the Catholic Church, I want to say, with regret, that the worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care… they need God and we must not fail to offer them his friendship, his blessing, his word, the celebration of the sacraments and a journey of growth and maturity in the faith. Our preferential option for the poor must mainly translate into a privileged and preferential religious care. (EG 200)

Let everyone admire how you care for one another, and how you encourage and accompany one another… Beware of the temptation of jealousy! We are all in the same boat and headed to the same port! Let us ask for the grace to rejoice in the gifts of each, which belong to all. (EG 99)