Letters

Church renewal at the parish level

A sense of ownership and a sense of belonging

Tue Jun 28 2022 - 00:12

Sir, – It is very important that the synodal process must result in action, as Breda O’Brien states (“The Catholic Church is listening – but now it must act”, Opinion & Analysis, June 25th).

The basic structure that seems so necessary today to carry forward renewal is organisation at the parish level.

Almost 30 years ago, I had the good fortune to help in a small country parish in the Archdiocese of Seattle. This parish had no resident priest and was run by the laity. The secretary there told me I just needed to turn up for the Sunday Mass, and if needed during the week for priestly duties she would contact me.

I arrived for the Sunday Mass and was literally amazed at the organisation in that church, and not only that church but all the other parishes I served in that diocese. All were organised in the same way.

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Archbishop Hunthausen, enthused by the Second Vatican Council, saw the need for the involvement of the laity as fully as possible at the parish level and instituted lay ministries in every parish. So when I came to say Mass in that parish there, two greeters welcomed the people and handed out the bulletin. Ushers helped people find a seat, organised the offertory procession and collection and cleaned up after the Mass. The appointed readings were clearly read by the lectors and the psalm sung by a cantor. Eight eucharistic ministers helped with the distribution of communion. Altar servers, both male and female, were all well trained.

Hence the Eucharist, so central in the celebration of our faith, was carried out with reverence and order and with the full cooperation of priest and laity. Not to mention the fact that all sang the hymns and made their responses to the Mass in unison. They had a team that ran a thriving rite of Christian initiation of adults programme. To this day each parish in that diocese have the lay ministries of greeter, usher, altar server, lectors, cantor, eucharistic minister, and so forth.

These are all non-paid volunteers and each year these ministries are rotated by inviting new volunteers. They received some training for their roles.

The parish was vibrant. This I believe was helped as a result of these lay ministries.

The people had a sense of ownership of their parish and a sense of belonging. Not only that, but when there was need for input to promote change and renewal there was a committed body at hand to consult, namely all those who already volunteered to be involved in helping in their parish over so many years since the Second Vatican Council. – Yours, etc,

PADRAIG

O’DAIBHIS, SJ

Tamney,

Donegal.