PARISH PRACTICE GERALD O’COLLINS What priests are for
A clerical gathering on the east coast of the United States allowed those attending the Newport convocation on Rhode Island to share ideas about their experiences of ministry that were not only uplifting and inspiring but also extremely practical
A
recent convocation of 200 priests in Newport, Rhode Island, offered me a rare chance of hearing what works in the parish life of Catholics
in New England. The experiences and ideals of the priests came alive over the three days. “Being available for people in need is every-
thing,” Steve insisted. “They are so grateful when their parish priest picks up the phone late at night and answers a sick call. That’s what priests are for – to be ready to visit the sick and dying at any hour of day or night.” Steve runs a town-centre parish. His friend
Paul, a country pastor, chipped in:“In the winter, those calls have the habit of coming at 2 a.m., when it’s been snowing heavily.” Steve told me of his young parochial vicar
or curate: “Recently he gave so much comfort to a woman, her husband and her family by being there day after day at her bedside before she died.” He explained how death had come to her: “She went to a clinic for a routine colonoscopy, and the surgeon failed to notice that he had pierced the colon. After a week of agony, she died of peritonitis.” Inevitably the Sacrament of Penance turned up on the agenda. “You must schedule it at a convenient time,” Mike assured me. “That means making it available right before or right after the Saturday vigil Mass. Many people won’t go to confession if it involves coming to church twice on Saturdays – once in the morning for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and once in the late afternoon for the Eucharist. On Sundays, I hear confessions before the main Mass. That also works well for many parishioners.” Mike talked too of what a
difference it makes when the rectory or priest’s house becomes a place of welcome. His predecessor had kept the blinds drawn and as many lights out as possible. Now the windows are open and the lights blaze into the night. The parish council meets there regularly, as well as members of the board of the primary school. At Christmas and on other occasions, Mike also hosts receptions and meals for parishioners.
16 | THE TABLET | 19 February 2011
Other priests spelled out what they did for the religious and biblical education of their people. Marty tackles the religious education of his parish’s children in three ways. “For some who attend public or state schools, there are classes two or three days a week in the afternoon. For others, I arrange intensive courses at the beginning or end of the summer holidays. We call them Emmaus programmes.” “What”, I asked him, “about children with special needs?” “We work with the parents,” he told me.
TO DO
Bethere for those who are sick or in need
Consider going on parish pilgrimages to Lourdes and elsewhere
“They are the best educators of their children, and particularly in these cases.” John astonished me with the success of his Bible study groups. “There are six of these groups, including one for youth and one on Saturday morning just for men.” “How did you manage all that?” I asked. “I got hold of a great facilitator, a man whose business is advertising. He was surprised when I asked him. But he had the expertise to make the groups take off and continue to work well. The people find how the Scriptures are a great path to God. Those Bible study groups have practical results. I never lack readers and altar servers for Mass.” Part of the secret for John’s success came out when he admitted: “The parishioners know that every night I read a page of the gospels slowly before I go to bed.” Tensions in the Church nat-
Encourage people to talk to each other, not about each other
Give those who differ from you the credit of loving Jesus and the Church as much as you do
urally came up for discussion. “‘Liberals’ and ‘conservatives’ are two containers in which we put our anxieties,” Ron told me. “We have to stop talking about each other and start talking to each other. You have to give those who differ from you the credit of loving Jesus
and the Church as much as you do.” Ron pressed the need for better-prepared homilies: “We have a pulpit problem, not an altar problem. People don’t understand what happens in the Eucharist when they don’t learn what they should from the pulpit.” Other priests shared with me the painful challenge that may come from parents whose children lead an “alternate and even dys-
functional existence”. “Because their children live in ways that don’t match their own family’s expectations and the Church’s teaching, parents can get very upset. Then some parents take it out on the parish by dis- owning Catholicism,” said one of them. Many priests spoke of the moving, grace-
filled occasions they experienced on parish pilgrimages to Lourdes and elsewhere. The most poignant stories came from one priest who recently took a group to El Salvador where they visited Tierra Bianca, a country village ravaged by the 12 years of civil war. Wilbur, one of those who lived in the village, showed the visiting party a tree trunk where government soldiers stood when they killed a 10-year-old boy and ripped his body apart with machine-gun fire. Then Wilbur pointed to a small cross: “That’s where one of our saints is buried.” When the soldiers identified the mother of two teenage boys who had joined the resistance, they took her out into a field, skinned her alive and chopped off her arms and feet. Wilbur added: “We heard them laughing as she was screaming.” The visiting priest asked him: “Since you know where those soldiers now live, why don’t you want to kill them?” Wilbur was taken aback and replied: “No, we help each other to forgive because we follow Jesus. If we were to kill them, we would be like what they once were.” The visitors burst into tears, and stood trying to grasp the amazing grace of forgiveness that following Jesus can bring. The three days at the Newport convocation
let me hear ideals that parish priests entertain about availability, schedules that suit parish- ioners, hospitality and homilies. I learned of programmes in religious and biblical education that work well, and of the powerful impact that pilgrimages can have on parishioners. Over the years, many people have asked me: where will new life for parishes come from? Some inspiring answers to that question came from the experiences and hopes that priests shared with me during three lovely autumn days in Newport, Rhode Island.
■Gerald O’Collins SJ is adjunct professor at the Australian Catholic University. His recent book, Philip Pullman’s Jesus, is published by Darton, Longman & Todd.
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