Evangelizing Parishes

May the Holy Spirit guide you to love and serve our only Savior Jesus Christ and may the Father grant you joy at this Christmas and peace in the New Year!

Introduction

After the National Symposium on “New Century, New Evangelization” was held, the local Churches throughout Taiwan have initiated great efforts toward actualizing the resolution for the building of evangelizing families with faith, hope and love. In fact, results can already be seen in those parishes which have promoted and enacted this resolution in the past two years. To enable the continual development of these efforts, we, the Bishops of Taiwan, have consulted with many priests, Sisters, catechists and lay leaders and have concluded that an important and complementary relationship exists between the family and the parish. For this reason, we have chosen “The Building of Evangelizing Parishes with Faith, Hope and Love” as the pastoral and evangelization theme for the year 2004.

The parish is the most basic community of faith in the hierarchy of the Church. It is in the parish that the faithful normally receive the sacraments and formation in their Christian life. They learn the catechism, participate in the Holy Mass and community prayers; they collaborate with the parish priest and the other lay faithful in a spirit of communion to spread the Gospel. Just as Pope John Paul II and the Synod Fathers stated: “The parish remains the ordinary place where the faithful gather to grow in faith, to live the mystery of ecclesial communion and to take part in the Church’s mission”. (Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Ecclesia in Asia”, 25) In this perspective, we can see that although the parish may have a multitude of tasks, her prime mission and function is twofold: Pastoral Care and Evangelization.

Many Christians look up to the Early Christians with great admiration. The Acts of the Apostles used words that are very simple but rich in meaning to describe the community life of that time: “They devoted themselves to the Apostles’ instruction and the communal life, to the breaking of bread and the prayers….Those who believed shared all things in common;… dividing everything on the basis of each one’s need”. (Acts 2, 42-45)

The first Christian community is the initial model of the parish in the modern times. If the parish wants to imitate the first Christian community, it needs to actualize the three key elements of the first Christian community so as to achieve a desirable community life. These three key elements also represent the prime mission and function of every parish.

“The Building of Evangelizing Parishes with Faith, Hope and Love”
Pastoral Letter for 2004

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, May the Holy Spirit guide you to love and serve our only Savior Jesus Christ and may the Father grant you joy at this Christmas and peace in the New Year! Introduction After the National Symposium on “New Century, New Evangelization” was held, the local Churches throughout Taiwan have initiated great efforts toward actualizing the resolution for the building of evangelizing families with faith, hope and love. In fact, results can already be seen in those parishes which have promoted and enacted this resolution in the past two years. To enable the continual development of these efforts, we, the Bishops of Taiwan, have consulted with many priests, Sisters, catechists and lay leaders and have concluded that an important and complementary relationship exists between the family and the parish. For this reason, we have chosen “The Building of Evangelizing Parishes with Faith, Hope and Love” as the pastoral and evangelization theme for the year 2004. The parish is the most basic community of faith in the hierarchy of the Church. It is in the parish that the faithful normally receive the sacraments and formation in their Christian life. They learn the catechism, participate in the Holy Mass and community prayers; they collaborate with the parish priest and the other lay faithful in a spirit of communion to spread the Gospel. Just as Pope John Paul II and the Synod Fathers stated: “The parish remains the ordinary place where the faithful gather to grow in faith, to live the mystery of ecclesial communion and to take part in the Church’s mission”. (Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Ecclesia in Asia”, 25) In this perspective, we can see that although the parish may have a multitude of tasks, her prime mission and function is twofold: Pastoral Care and Evangelization. 1. The prime pastoral mission and function of the parish Many Christians look up to the Early Christians with great admiration. The Acts of the Apostles used words that are very simple but rich in meaning to describe the community life of that time: “They devoted themselves to the Apostles’ instruction and the communal life, to the breaking of bread and the prayers….Those who believed shared all things in common;… dividing everything on the basis of each one’s need”. (Acts 2, 42-45) The first Christian community is the initial model of the parish in the modern times. If the parish wants to imitate the first Christian community, it needs to actualize the three key elements of the first Christian community so as to achieve a desirable community life. These three key elements also represent the prime mission and function of every parish. a. The parish is the place where the Word of God is listened to and studied When The Acts of the Apostles says: “ They listened attentively to the teachings of the Apostles”, it means that the Early Christians listened to what the Apostles said about the words and deeds of the life of Jesus, which the Apostles put later into words - the “Gospels”. Listening to the teachings of the Gospel is very important for the formation of the faithful; therefore, the parish priest should prepare well the Sunday homily, he should make use of vivid examples related to the daily life of the faithful to explain the essence of the Gospel, so that the faithful may learn to conform their lives to the spirit of the Gospel. If the parish priest can explain systematically the essence of the Scripture following the Liturgical Years A, B, C, as well as that of the important feast-days, the faithful will be able to acquire an overall concept of their Christian life. Given the large number of faithful in the big parishes, it is opportune to encourage the lay associations and organizations to read the Bible during their regular meetings. This will enhance their life of faith. Moreover, we should also encourage the laity to organize activities such as Bible reading classes, biblical associations, individual and family Bible reading, Bible competitions for children, as well as sponsor essay contests for the young and the adult faithful. These endeavors will surely be very helpful in promoting the reading of the Bible. If the faithful themselves know the Bible well, they will propagate the Gospel to others spontaneously. b. The parish is the assembly place where the faithful say prayers together and receive the Sacraments The Acts of the Apostles says: “They often gathered in one place”. The Early Christians often gathered in one fixed place, such place for us now is the parish. In the parish there should be a Church available for prayer and the celebration of the Sacraments, and also a place for meeting and social activities. “They often gathered together for prayers”. The parish priest is responsible for forming the faith life of the faithful. Prayer is like the breath of the faith life; without prayer, there is no faith life. Prayer is the communication between man and God; without prayer, there is no communication between man and God. Prayer is the expression of faith, hope and love; without prayer, there are no true virtues of faith, hope and love. To enable the faithful to pray in peace in the Church, it is necessary that there be an atmosphere of prayer. The neatness, silence, lighting, floral composition, candles, pews and statues, etc., contribute to creating a conducive atmosphere for prayer. Communal prayers should be well prepared and have someone to lead them; usually the faithful like to say the Rosary and make the Way of the Cross. Besides, we should encourage the faithful to say prayers individually and within the family. The words: “They often gathered together for the breaking of bread” depict the Early Christians’ way of participating in the Holy Mass and receiving the Holy Communion. The Holy Mass and the Eucharist have always been at the center of the Christian community’s life, and are the signs of communion between the faithful. For this reason, every parish should have a Liturgical Team, whose members should see to the preparation of the Holy Masses, so that all the particular details will be prepared as carefully as possible, such as the provision of clean and beautiful sacred vessels and vestments, the training of qualified altar-boys, lectors, commentators, choirs and organists. The altar and the tabernacle should be placed in the most respectful place of the Church, so that they can be easily seen by the faithful and inspire them in the participation of the Holy Mass and the desire to receive Holy Communion. In the year 2004, the International Eucharistic Congress will be held in Mexico. In order to foster in the faithful the devotion to the Holy Eucharist, the Bishops in our country, in their recent assembly, have decided to organize in each diocese a Eucharistic Congress in the year 2004. A National Eucharistic Congress will also be held on 5 th December in Wan Chin. The Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage and Anointing of the Sick administered in the parish should be well prepared and solemnly celebrated. All the members of the parish should be invited to participate to make these Sacraments become central events in the life of the parish. This will bring spiritual benefits to the whole community. c. The parish is a happy family of mutual love and help The Acts of the Apostles says: “ Those who believed gathered often together and shared all things in common…dividing everything on the basis of each one’s need”. These phrases tell us how the Early Christians cared for one another and how genuinely they loved and served one another. If the faithful of a parish are united in one heart and one mind in taking care of those in their community who are in spiritual or material needs, this parish will surely be characterized by a family atmosphere where everyone will seek to love and help one another and put into practice the virtues of faith, hope and love. Such a parish will not only become a big family filled with mutual love and help; in turn it will also attract non-Christians who come into contact with the parish. At first new-comers will admire this community and then desire to join it. Therefore, we hope that every parish can set up a group to give assistance, relief and mutual help, or a parish “Caritas”. If a smaller parish is lacking in human and material resources, the Deanery can mobilize assistance from the bigger parishes. The parish should also take care of those faithful who have lost contact with the Church, and those who have divorced or are remarried, by encouraging them to pray and ask God for help in solving their problems so that they may return to the big family of the Church. 2. The parish’s evangelization mission and functions With respect to evangelization, the parish has three prime missions and functions: a) The parish is the base where the sense of mission and the evangelical zeal are fostered Every parish should create an “Evangelization Formation Group” with the help of some key lay faithful members who possess apostolic zeal. They will be responsible for training the faithful to take up the mission of evangelization. At times it will be opportune to invite experts who have rich experiences in evangelization formation, but the parish priest and the Formation Group itself remain the main responsible persons. It is necessary for all the faithful to know that each baptized person has the duty of evangelization, because “the laity likewise share in the priestly, prophetic and royal office of Christ and therefore have their own share in the mission of the whole people of God in the Church and in the world” (Vatican II, Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People Apostolicam Actuositatem, 2). Before administering the Sacrament of Baptism to catechumens, it is important to educate them about the mission and responsibility of evangelization for each of the faithful. The newly baptized should also be encouraged to introduce one or two persons to the Church and accompany them as they learn the catechism; in this way the faith life of the newly-baptized will surely grow along with their apostolic zeal. b) The parish is the headquarter where the plans and strategies of evangelization are made and the distribution of works are done The success of every endeavor needs in the first place a detailed and strategic plan and an appropriate work distribution; so is with the work of evangelization. The parish priest and the Parish Council should make concrete plans for evangelization according to the human and material sources available and the needs of the neighborhood. Once the scope of evangelization is set, work should be distributed to every lay organization according to their specific charism and scope. They should be encouraged to make periodic evaluations at their regular meetings, and seek to improve their efforts in order to achieve this goal. c) The Parish is an evangelization station which opens itself to the neighborhood and shows concerns The parish is the bridge of contact between the Church and the society. It should extend itself and become a spiritual and moral center for the neighborhood. Concerning how to attract non-Christians to know about the Gospel, the National Symposium on “New Century, New Evangelization” gave the following suggestions: To encourage non-Christians to participate in the celebrations of the parish’s big feasts. To open up the parish and develop it to be a social activity center for the district by making the parish facilities available and by working in collaboration with the district. To establish good relationships with the neighbors by actively showing concern and participating in their events such as weddings and funerals. Regular street-cleaning actions can also be organized so as to gain the favorable opinion of the neighbors. To give particular attention to the holding of funeral rites so as to gain the participation and adhesion of non-Christians. To place mobile street evangelization stations whenever necessary in order to provide non-Christians with the opportunity to get to know the Church. (Resolutions of National Symposium on “New Century, New Evangelization” Pg. 66-67) In addition, the parish should strive to join the people of good will and the public welfare associations in the district to do welfare works, for example, by co-organizing charity activities with the “Lion’s Club”, or to run centers of learning for the elderly in the district. Conclusion Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, each one of us must have the awareness and the sense of mission that “the parish is us and we are the parish”. The rises and declines of the pastoral and evangelization efforts in the parish are directly related to the participation of each member. Now is the time to reinforce the mission and the functions of the parish. As long as we possess the awareness and the sense of mission for pastoral and evangelization work, and have confidence in God’s help and in the intercession of Our Lady, we will be able to devise appropriate pastoral and evangelization works which will in turn bear lasting and effective fruit. We hope that every parish can prepare a gift for the local Bishop before the Lunar New Year, that is to present him with your parish’s pastoral and evangelization plan for the year 2004. Best Wishes for a Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year! The Bishops of the Chinese Regional Bishops’ Conference December 25, 2003

a. The parish is the place where the Word of God is listened to and studied

When The Acts of the Apostles says: “ They listened attentively to the teachings of the Apostles”, it means that the Early Christians listened to what the Apostles said about the words and deeds of the life of Jesus, which the Apostles put later into words - the “Gospels”. Listening to the teachings of the Gospel is very important for the formation of the faithful; therefore, the parish priest should prepare well the Sunday homily, he should make use of vivid examples related to the daily life of the faithful to explain the essence of the Gospel, so that the faithful may learn to conform their lives to the spirit of the Gospel. If the parish priest can explain systematically the essence of the Scripture following the Liturgical Years A, B, C, as well as that of the important feast-days, the faithful will be able to acquire an overall concept of their Christian life.

Given the large number of faithful in the big parishes, it is opportune to encourage the lay associations and organizations to read the Bible during their regular meetings. This will enhance their life of faith. Moreover, we should also encourage the laity to organize activities such as Bible reading classes, biblical associations, individual and family Bible reading, Bible competitions for children, as well as sponsor essay contests for the young and the adult faithful. These endeavors will surely be very helpful in promoting the reading of the Bible. If the faithful themselves know the Bible well, they will propagate the Gospel to others spontaneously.

b. The parish is the assembly place where the faithful say prayers together and receive the Sacraments

The Acts of the Apostles says: “They often gathered in one place”. The Early Christians often gathered in one fixed place, such place for us now is the parish. In the parish there should be a Church available for prayer and the celebration of the Sacraments, and also a place for meeting and social activities.

“They often gathered together for prayers”. The parish priest is responsible for forming the faith life of the faithful. Prayer is like the breath of the faith life; without prayer, there is no faith life. Prayer is the communication between man and God; without prayer, there is no communication between man and God. Prayer is the expression of faith, hope and love; without prayer, there are no true virtues of faith, hope and love. To enable the faithful to pray in peace in the Church, it is necessary that there be an atmosphere of prayer. The neatness, silence, lighting, floral composition, candles, pews and statues, etc., contribute to creating a conducive atmosphere for prayer. Communal prayers should be well prepared and have someone to lead them; usually the faithful like to say the Rosary and make the Way of the Cross. Besides, we should encourage the faithful to say prayers individually and within the family.

The words: “They often gathered together for the breaking of bread” depict the Early Christians’ way of participating in the Holy Mass and receiving the Holy Communion. The Holy Mass and the Eucharist have always been at the center of the Christian community’s life, and are the signs of communion between the faithful. For this reason, every parish should have a Liturgical Team, whose members should see to the preparation of the Holy Masses, so that all the particular details will be prepared as carefully as possible, such as the provision of clean and beautiful sacred vessels and vestments, the training of qualified altar-boys, lectors, commentators, choirs and organists. The altar and the tabernacle should be placed in the most respectful place of the Church, so that they can be easily seen by the faithful and inspire them in the participation of the Holy Mass and the desire to receive Holy Communion.

In the year 2004, the International Eucharistic Congress will be held in Mexico. In order to foster in the faithful the devotion to the Holy Eucharist, the Bishops in our country, in their recent assembly, have decided to organize in each diocese a Eucharistic Congress in the year 2004. A National Eucharistic Congress will also be held on 5 th December in Wan Chin.

The Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage and Anointing of the Sick administered in the parish should be well prepared and solemnly celebrated. All the members of the parish should be invited to participate to make these Sacraments become central events in the life of the parish. This will bring spiritual benefits to the whole community.

The Acts of the Apostles says: “ Those who believed gathered often together and shared all things in common…dividing everything on the basis of each one’s need”. These phrases tell us how the Early Christians cared for one another and how genuinely they loved and served one another. If the faithful of a parish are united in one heart and one mind in taking care of those in their community who are in spiritual or material needs, this parish will surely be characterized by a family atmosphere where everyone will seek to love and help one another and put into practice the virtues of faith, hope and love. Such a parish will not only become a big family filled with mutual love and help; in turn it will also attract non-Christians who come into contact with the parish. At first new-comers will admire this community and then desire to join it. Therefore, we hope that every parish can set up a group to give assistance, relief and mutual help, or a parish “Caritas”. If a smaller parish is lacking in human and material resources, the Deanery can mobilize assistance from the bigger parishes.

The parish should also take care of those faithful who have lost contact with the Church, and those who have divorced or are remarried, by encouraging them to pray and ask God for help in solving their problems so that they may return to the big family of the Church.

With respect to evangelization, the parish has three prime missions and functions:

a) The parish is the base where the sense of mission and the evangelical zeal are fostered

Every parish should create an “Evangelization Formation Group” with the help of some key lay faithful members who possess apostolic zeal. They will be responsible for training the faithful to take up the mission of evangelization. At times it will be opportune to invite experts who have rich experiences in evangelization formation, but the parish priest and the Formation Group itself remain the main responsible persons. It is necessary for all the faithful to know that each baptized person has the duty of evangelization, because “the laity likewise share in the priestly, prophetic and royal office of Christ and therefore have their own share in the mission of the whole people of God in the Church and in the world” (Vatican II, Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People Apostolicam Actuositatem, 2).

Before administering the Sacrament of Baptism to catechumens, it is important to educate them about the mission and responsibility of evangelization for each of the faithful. The newly baptized should also be encouraged to introduce one or two persons to the Church and accompany them as they learn the catechism; in this way the faith life of the newly-baptized will surely grow along with their apostolic zeal.

b) The parish is the headquarter where the plans and strategies of evangelization are made and the distribution of works are done

The success of every endeavor needs in the first place a detailed and strategic plan and an appropriate work distribution; so is with the work of evangelization. The parish priest and the Parish Council should make concrete plans for evangelization according to the human and material sources available and the needs of the neighborhood. Once the scope of evangelization is set, work should be distributed to every lay organization according to their specific charism and scope. They should be encouraged to make periodic evaluations at their regular meetings, and seek to improve their efforts in order to achieve this goal.

c) The Parish is an evangelization station which opens itself to the neighborhood and shows concerns

The parish is the bridge of contact between the Church and the society. It should extend itself and become a spiritual and moral center for the neighborhood. Concerning how to attract non-Christians to know about the Gospel, the National Symposium on “New Century, New Evangelization” gave the following suggestions:

To encourage non-Christians to participate in the celebrations of the parish’s big feasts.
To open up the parish and develop it to be a social activity center for the district by making the parish facilities available and by working in collaboration with the district.
To establish good relationships with the neighbors by actively showing concern and participating in their events such as weddings and funerals. Regular street-cleaning actions can also be organized so as to gain the favorable opinion of the neighbors.
To give particular attention to the holding of funeral rites so as to gain the participation and adhesion of non-Christians.
To place mobile street evangelization stations whenever necessary in order to provide non-Christians with the opportunity to get to know the Church. (Resolutions of National Symposium on “New Century, New Evangelization” Pg. 66-67)

In addition, the parish should strive to join the people of good will and the public welfare associations in the district to do welfare works, for example, by co-organizing charity activities with the “Lion’s Club”, or to run centers of learning for the elderly in the district.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, each one of us must have the awareness and the sense of mission that “the parish is us and we are the parish”. The rises and declines of the pastoral and evangelization efforts in the parish are directly related to the participation of each member. Now is the time to reinforce the mission and the functions of the parish. As long as we possess the awareness and the sense of mission for pastoral and evangelization work, and have confidence in God’s help and in the intercession of Our Lady, we will be able to devise appropriate pastoral and evangelization works which will in turn bear lasting and effective fruit.

We hope that every parish can prepare a gift for the local Bishop before the Lunar New Year, that is to present him with your parish’s pastoral and evangelization plan for the year 2004.