The parish

DO many Catholics now still have a good awareness of the significance of the parish in their lives?

Given the fast-paced, urban-concentrated phenomenon of today's lifestyle, it might not be far-fetched to think that many indeed have little awareness, if at all, of the significance of the parish in their lives.

Modern sensitivity seems to have a negative attitude toward anything associated with the parish. I know that the word "parish" is almost always associated with the word "parochial."

And that's quite politically incorrect. Many people are ashamed to be tagged by such term. Many have pretensions of having a more universal concern or global orientation.

Besides, modern man appears to be capricious and promiscuous, uncomfortable with having to be loyal and faithful, or to stick to a certain structure or set of rules.

He considers these structures and rules as restraining and inhibiting, an unfortunate development that can explain the growing chaos and disorder we are seeing today.

These attitudes need to be overcome. This state of affairs needs to be corrected. I submit that a good part of the problem of the Catholic Church today can be traced to the ignorance and indifference many have with respect to the parish.

This is because the parish, like the family, is a fundamental unit in the Catholic Church structure. Ignoring it is like ignoring the family. It harms church life just as ignoring family welfare harms social life.

Precisely because of the increasing mobility of life today and the trend for people to flock to big cities, the parish can and should play a crucial stabilizing role in church life. Efforts should be made to revitalize parish life.

As defined by the Catechism, the parish "is the place where all the faithful can be gathered together for the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist." (2179) And this is of capital importance since the life and the vitality of the Catholic Church and of each faithful, in the end, can only flow from Holy Mass.

Where this celebration of the Eucharist is omitted, there might be some life and vitality in a given society, but it at best would just be a human and natural life, not the Christian and supernatural life the Christian man is meant to have.

There might be abundant good works done in a certain community, but if these are not united to the celebration of the Holy Mass, they will fail to acquire any salvific character.

No human endeavor, no matter how worthwhile, can truly satisfy divine justice unless infused with divine effectiveness through the sacraments.

The Catechism continues: "The parish initiates the Christian people into the ordinary expression of the liturgical life: it gathers them together in this celebration. It teaches Christ's doctrine. It practices the charity of the Lord in good works and brotherly love."

I would even go to the extent of saying that the incorporation of the faithful to the church is strengthened, nurtured and sustained if this sense of belongingness to the parish is fostered.

That's why those more directly involved in governing the parish have a grave duty to make the parish truly alive and sensitive to the objective needs of the faithful. It should not harden into bureaucratic rigidity and coldness.

It is for this reason that parish priests should always be reminded that they exist and live for the parish. They need to pray, study, work and sacrifice, lavishing the parish with all their strength and unlimited time so as to make it a true image of the Church, where intimate communion of men with God and among themselves, in truth and love, takes place.

For this, they need to be attentive to the signs of the times, quite aware of larger and deeper issues which concern the universal church, and those which more closely affect the specific situation of a given community.

They have to learn how to be broad-minded, always respecting the variety of charisms that may play in their parishes as well as adept in integrating them so that these charisms truly serve the mission of the church.

It is also for this reason that all other religious organizations in the parish should not compete with, or undermine the life of the parish. If anything at all, while they enjoy a certain autonomy in their activities, they should strengthen parish life.

This would require a certain continuing dialogue between the parish priests and leaders of organizations.