Congress reflects on importance of community

By Kiply Lukan Yaworski

SASKATOON — From January to March, parish representatives in each of the seven deaneries across the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon took time on a Saturday to gather and reflect on the Christian call to live, worship and serve in a faith community.

From St. Mary’s Parish Hall in downtown Saskatoon Jan. 30 to Little Flower Parish Hall in Leader March 27 — and at five communities in between — parish representatives, deanery members, pastoral leaders and diocesan facilitators gathered to listen and reflect as they discussed the challenges, blessings, joys and sorrows of parish life and building community as the Body of Christ.

Day 2 of an annual two-day conversation known as the Diocesan Congress was this year taken into each of the seven deaneries as a way to include more people in the reflection and consultation process, while building connections among the parishes within each deanery, as well as between the deanery and the diocese, explained diocesan director of Pastoral Services Leah Perrault.

“Christ’s presence was tangible at these days in unique and exciting ways,” she said. “God reminded me again, as we travelled through the diocese, that each parish is a unique reflection of the work of the Spirit, as is each deanery.”

Perrault and a team of facilitators worked with deanery representatives and local organizers to offer each of the seven Saturday sessions — all of which focused on the priority of “building and sustaining community,” one of six priorities in the Rooted in Christ diocesan vision launched at last year’s diocesan congress. All seven of the deaneries identified this priority in planning for Congress Day 2 this year.

“We were struck by the fact that across the diocese, building and sustaining community was identified as the priority everyone wanted to talk about,” Perrault said at the Kerrobert Deanery gathering at St. Mary’s Parish Hall in Macklin Feb. 20. Whatever unique challenges and changes are faced by individual parishes — urban or rural, large or small — there is a recognition that building community is a vital component and an ongoing challenge in Christian life, she said.

Participants were provided with a brief overview of the history of parish life that demonstrated shifts in the role and operation of parishes in the past two millennia, and the reality that the present era, which began 50 years ago with the Second Vatican Council, is still in its earliest days.

At every gathering, Perrault rooted the question of building community in today’s setting, suggesting participants determine their own local and cultural context in order to read the “signs of the times” as Jesus encouraged his disciples to do.

The reality is that “God needs groups,” Perrault stressed, reflecting on the importance of community. “We don’t learn faith or experience spirituality in a vacuum — but always from and with the people around us.”

The importance of identifying and responding to the needs of the faith community was also examined — and Perrault noted the spiritual longing experienced by so many as something which challenges parishes to be less program oriented and more spiritually oriented.

Those who join or return to a faith community invariably say that it was the “local, the informal and the personal” contact that made the difference in their faith journey, Perrault reported.

It is important to recognize the diversity that exists in every parish, she addded. Even a single individual’s reasons for seeking out a faith community will change over time, she pointed out.

“We get into trouble when we think everyone is the same,” she said at the Outlook Deanery meeting Feb. 27, encouraging participants to identify who is part of their community and what their needs might be.

Perrault hearkened back to a presentation at diocesan Study Days/Congress 2009 when speaker David Wells stressed, “You are the plan.”

She presented Wells’s five guiding principles for faith communities:

— Always return to the foundation: remember that this is about Jesus;

— You must first nurture yourself if you are going to nurture others;

— Recognize that you are going to make mistakes: seek forgiveness and move on;

— Avoid reverting to a “legalistic religious default position” when faced with challenges; and

— Every day, as long as this day lasts,encourage each other.

Participants took time to reflect on and discuss their own parishes and identify the changes being experienced in their communities.

Parish representatives worked to come up with a comprehensive list of groups within their faith community before considering what members of each group might be seeking.

Specific suggestions — such as home visits for the shut in, or friends and music for youth — were noted, as were some near-universal longings, such as the need to be welcomed, accepted and included, and the desire to experience a sense of belonging and purpose.

Congress facilitators then asked participants to share what they loved best about their parishes, and to list examples of “best practices” — initiatives in parishes that are making a difference and strengthening Christian community.

Diocesan facilitators also described the resources and ministries available to parishes through the Catholic Pastoral Centre.

At the end of the session, participants were asked to record what they would like to tell the new bishop of Saskatoon. Comments, suggestions and invitations were recorded and forwarded to Bishop Donald Bolen, who was ordained Bishop of Saskatoon March 25.