‘New Life within us’: A mystery to be lived

In February, every parish received a leaflet with details about the Bishops Lenten Pastoral, ‘New Life within us’, and about the new national guidelines for Parish Pastoral Councils (PPC’s). It stated that:

“The Easter Season is an opportunity to reflect on Gods bounty. This Easter season the Bishop is inviting

Parish Pastoral Councils (PPS’s) to reflect and to give thanks. … Every parish is being sent copies of

the new ‘National Guidelines for Parish Pastoral Councils’ … and the parish pastoral council is asked

to put aside time during the Easter Season to engage with the text’

We promised to follow that leaflet up, with more detailed information about the Bishops request for the Easter Season. Well, here it is! We hope it is of support to your work.

Not extra work – An opportunity to reflect

It is not our intention to add to your busy workload. Therefore, this reflection is designed to be held during a regular PPC meeting, and has been planned for the Easter Season – a time when we hope you will be less busy.

Its purpose is to enable all parishes to support their pastoral council by offering clarity and depth to the important work that is being undertaken. All PPC members – lay and clergy – deserve to know what they are being asked to take on, for how long, and for what purpose. In order to prevent burn-out; all of us need to feel part of a common vision and to work together towards common goals.

We hope that this exercise helps your PPC to do just that.

Outline of evening

The following is a suggestion of how your PPC could reflect on the national guidelines. This topic can be dealt with at the start of your meeting, or towards the end – wherever you normally deal with the main point of your agenda. Please feel free to adapt this outline to suit your needs.

This outline will be run through in full detail at a gathering on Wednesday, 9 th April in the Woodlands hotel, Adare, for any presiders (priests) or chairpersons of a parish pastoral council who would find this helpful.

In advance : Every member of the Parish Pastoral Council should receive a copy of the new national guidelines at least 2 weeks in advance of the meeting; with a request to read chapters 1 and 2 (8 pages) beforehand.

0:00 Introduction – see (ii) below

0:05 In pairs discuss – Based on what you heard/read:

- What did you like or find helpful in this vision?

0:10 Feedback: Chairperson invites each person to make one

comment on what they have discussed. Only rule is ‘no

one speaks twice until everyone has spoken once’

0:20 Open discussion: Again, everyone has the chance to speak once before anyone speaks twice. Take one question at a time.

(i) How does this vision apply to our Parish?

(ii) How does it apply to our Pastoral Council?

0:30 If we had to share this vision of parish with the wider faith community, and we couldn’t use

words; what image would be most suitable for this parish?

See (iii) below for ideas

0:45 Finish with ‘Our Father’

(ii) Introduction

A series of four pictures were sent to every parish priest along with this handout, as well as the following outline. Remember that you are introducing just the first 8 pages of this booklet, to a group who will have already read these pages … so it’s just a brief re-cap!

Introduction

• Vision: Church as communion
• Read aloud: ‘Our vision of church today is that of Church as communion’

• Display the image of Rublev’s icon of the Trinity (If you want to know more about this image, for your

own information, look up a website like: www.wellsprings.org.uk/rublevs_icon/rublev.htm )

• Read the extract from Fr Micheal Liston’s book – Father sending out Son (in pack sent in post to parish priests)

• Allow a moment of silence

• Display second page – image of people in form of cross and read aloud ‘The life of communion between Christians reflects and is a participation in the mystery of God’s love as revealed in Jesus.’

• Take another moment of silence to absorb this.

• Mission and Context: The Parish Pastoral Council – living communion

• Display third image of some of the many people in our diocese

• Read aloud “ All the baptised share in the mission of Christ in their own right”

• Display words, symbols or images of some of your parish ministry groups (a Bible for Ministers of the Word and Lectio Divina, Water for parish Baptism team etc)

• Read aloud “Parish Pastoral Councils in the Diocese that are properly established, trained & supported, and that remain in line with diocesan policy; m odel our vision of church as communion. They can be expected to continue beyond death or transfer of PP, offering support to new PP (within their term). Parish Pastoral Councils can prove to be a pivotal role in parishes without a resident priest.

• Display the fourth image of some of the many organisations that exist in the diocese

• Read aloud “If the Church is to be truly local the congregation of the faithful must be ... ‘rooted in the social life of the people and to some extent conformed to its culture’”

• Read aloud “ The life of communion between Christians reflects, and is a participation in, the mystery of Gods love revealed in Jesus ”

• Move the image of the Cross to the centre to focus people’s attention on it again

• Allow a moment of silence

Return to the outline of the evening – by inviting people in pairs to discuss the question : ‘what did you like or find helpful in this vision?’

(iii) Response

Describing a vision in words can be helpful, but sometimes ‘a picture tells a thousand words’!!

What vision of parish do you want to share with the wider community?

For example:

• Are we helpers, co-workers, colleagues and/or community? These are very different visions!
• Is our vision of parish inclusive or exclusive?
• What colours or styles best describe this way of being parish?
• What materials, music, smells, sights, or memories capture this understanding of parish?

What image could help parishioners to recognize that they are full members of this parish?

______________________________

Each Parish Pastoral Council is asked to agree upon an image, and to deliver that image (itself or a photograph of it) to the Pastoral Centre on or before Friday, 2 nd May ’08. At the Pentecost Liturgy (see back page) , these will be displayed in the Cathedral. If you have any questions or concerns about this – come along on April 9 th and we can chat more!

Pentecost liturgy

Pentecost Sunday, 11 th May from 3-4pm in St John’s Cathedral, Limerick

All parish pastoral council members are invited to this simple liturgy

which will be led by Bishop Murray.

It will be an opportunity to give thanks, to be blessed for the year ahead and to recognize that we are ‘Never Alone’. Parishes will need to have sent in their images on or before Friday 2 nd May ‘08 (describing their parish pastorals council vision of parish) , so that these can be used as the basis for the liturgy.

The Easter season is the time the Catholic church sets aside for thanksgiving - mystagogy. Therefore it is appropriate that this opportunity for parish leadership to pray with their Bishop is offered in this joyful season.

Copies of the new National Guidelines for Parish Pastoral Councils

Every parish was sent 2-3 copies of these guidelines, courtesy of Bishop Murray, at the start of Lent. These were to be distributed to all priests and to the chairperson of the Parish Pastoral Council.

Further copies can be ordered directly from Veritas, at a cost of 6.50.

See www.veritas.ie , or contact Veritas branches across the country.

Head Office: 7-8 Lower Abbey St, Dublin 1 Phone: 01-878 8177
Ennis: 83 O’Connell St, Ennis, Co Clare. P: 065-682 8696

Cork : Carey's Lane, Cork. Phone: 021-425 1255