| Celebrating
20 Years – In Their Own Words…
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Following our festive
anniversary dinner at St. Thomas Seminary & Archdiocesan Center
on September 23, 2005, the 350 celebrants gathered for a program in
the St. Thomas chapel. Along with song and music, there was a program
of reflection. Deacon Bob Pallotti, chairperson of the department’s
advisory board was emcee. The program began with several personal
reflections on the small church community experience. After acknowledgments
and some thoughts expressed by Bro. Bob Moriarty, S.M., Fr. Art Baranowski
made the main presentation. Archbishop Henry Mansell brought the evening
to a close with several reflections of his own. What follows here
are excerpts from these various offerings...
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| The
Basic Ecclesial Community of Eastern Indonesia (Part II) |
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by
Father
Eugene Schmitz, SVD
The second five-year
Pastoral Plan of the Larantuka diocese was aimed at forming the basic
ecclesial communities into being serving communities. Through the
assistance of three main programs adapted from LUMKO (i.e., the South
African small Christian community model), “The Kingdom”,
“God Renews the World through Us”, and the “Amos
Program”, our people were made aware that a worshipping community
needs to bring its faith into dealing with the local problems. Faith
must be brought to bear, not just in the individual community context,
but also in the larger community within which it lives and is a part.
More » |
Worth Repeating
Small church
community calls forth tremendous generosity on your part; generosity
in giving of your time certainly, but more, generosity in giving
yourselves, in sharing your deepest, innermost sentiments and
assisting one another. That’s at the heart of small church
community…It’s really at the heart of being church.
And for all that, I thank you all so very much.
Archbishop Henry J. Mansell, September 23, 2004.
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| Celebrating
20 Years – In Their Own Words…
|
 ARCHBISHOP
HENRY MANSELL
Archdiocese of Hartford
I really come here to applaud you and to thank you for being small
church communities and for being leaven in the Archdiocese of Hartford…to
congratulate you and all who have made possible the experience of
small church communities for twenty years.What you have are intentional
communities…and intentionality is so much more important these
days than it has been. We can’t presume on the culture…we
can’t presume on automatic supports and affirmations. There
is a need for reflection; there is a need for interaction; there is
a need for initiative; there is a need for intentionality.Small church
community calls forth tremendous generosity on your part; generosity
in giving of your time certainly, but more, generosity in giving yourselves,
in sharing your deepest, innermost sentiments and assisting one another.
That’s at the heart of small church community…It’s
really at the heart of being church. And for all that, I thank you
all so very much.
 PHILIP
KENNEY
St. Thomas
More Chapel, Yale University
Small church communities have strengthened my faith, and in doing
so they have given direction to my life. They have enabled me to be
a part of a wonderful community of friends united by a shared commitment
to God. And beyond that, they have strengthened the community at St.
Thomas More and added immensely to Catholic life at Yale. I believe
that small church communities should be an integral part of every
parish….And I hope that after I leave Yale next year, I’ll
be able to find a church that offers them. They’re simply too
important a part of my spiritual life to give up.
 NANCY
BABCOCK
St. Patrick, Collinsville
After hearing about small church communities for some time from Bro.
Bob Moriarty, Fr. Bob Beloin and the folks at Our Lady of the Lakes,
I remember thinking on the ride home one night, “What have I
got myself into?” Well, what I got myself into was just being
an ordinary person meeting with other ordinary people regularly to
talk about our faith and life. In our busy lives we were taking a
moment to pause, to reflect and to share some of that reflection with
one or two others in the small group. What happened over the course
of time was that as we shared our stories we developed new habits
or strengthened others such as daily prayer. We took time out of our
busy lives with our families to talk over the important things of
life, like our faith and how that impacted the decisions that we’ve
made. We also learned new skills such as listening. When it was my
turn to share, that meant that someone was listening to my joys, my
sorrows, my tears, my fears – the stuff of life. But they weren’t
judging me; they weren’t trying to fix my broken parts.This
was not just a group that got together like other friendship groups
because it felt good and we bonded. The basis is that we were a small
church community and that came out of our faith and our sharing our
lives with one another. We carry on the work of the faith and reach
out to the rest of the parish by having an autumn walk by the river,
an annual event, and Breakfast with Santa. The money raised from that
goes to support the children in our sister parish in Haiti. And some
of our small church members are also involved in taking RCIA members
and breaking open the word with them. Small church has helped me make
faith central in my life so that it is a part of my every day and
of those people with whom I live.
 FR.
THOMAS SAS
St. Ann, Avon
The value that small Christian communities bring to parish life is
immense. I’ve seen it, as you have. I would encourage anyone,
any pastor to jump in because it is a wonderful way for people to
support one another, to help one another and to grow in their faith…
From my own perspective, small Christian communities have been nothing
but good. Personally and pastorally, they have been energizing, challenging…At
the same time, they have provided a vision that is terribly important
in our church and parishes today. I am proud to be a part of small
Christian communities.
 FR.
ARTHUR BARANOWSKI
National Alliance of Parishes
Re-Structuring into CommunitiesYou are doing something here that is
significant for the rest of the country – the number of small
communities, the amount of years you’ve been at it, the kind
of office you have – speaks to the rest of the country. It is
good to be here.
The great thing I find about small church communities is that, besides
the RCIA people, a lot of Catholic people begin to feel that God calls
me to be church. “God actually calls me.” There’s
a kind of an acceptance of a calling – it’s not just going
to church on Sunday; there’s something more: God’s calling
me to be the church and these small communities help me find that,
a personal call to be church. Other than the RCIA, I don’t know
anything else that does that better than small communities. Small
communities put us in touch with the basics, with the basic that life,
as the catechism puts it, is all about communion with God.Given the
way we’re living today, the harried pace, the amount of information,
we’re always on the go, always caught up with activity –
what the small community does is to it provide a counter culture,
a way for church to happen. We live in a culture that is so busy and
so noisy that it is almost impossible to hear God. The small communities
make it possible to hear God and to make the church possible. The
small communities provide a different kind of culture, of quiet, of
silence, of mutual respect, of listening. It’s a great thing
you do for the church…These small communities are happening
in parishes everywhere in the world for a reason…. Being Catholic
is a way to look at life; a way to come at life; it is not just a
bunch of teachings. There’s a whole world view to being Catholic…Small
church communities are a God-given way in which people help each other
take the great Catholic tradition as a way to look at their life experience.There
is great hope for the church and one of the great marks of hope for
our church are the small church communities.
 BRO.
ROBERT MORIARTY, S.M.
Small Christian Communities
In his recent book, A People Adrift, Peter Steinfels, makes so bold
as to say in the opening words of his introduction, “The Roman
Catholic Church in the United States is on the verge of either irreversible
decline or thoroughgoing transformation.” And he bases this
statement on an analysis not just of one issue, but rather a whole
range of issues.
If he is anywhere near the mark, for a people of faith, the first
alternative is totally unacceptable. If he is anywhere near the mark,
we are facing a profound challenge, but a challenge that addresses
us not just institutionally, but a challenge that addresses us in
the depths of our personal beings and in the depths of our local communities.
If these acutely unsettled and unsettling times challenge us in a
special way to profound transformation, it is finally, simply the
ages old call of the gospel to conversion with which we are being
confronted. And this is the vocation of small church communities.
What we are about pure and simple is the transformation of our hearts
and lives, the transformation of our parishes and our diocesan church.
What we are about is becoming ever more richly and fully a church
in Southern New England that is a sign and instrument for the transformation
of God’s wonderful, if fractured, world.Our twentieth anniversary
is indeed a cause for celebration. Let it also be an occasion for
us to take stock, an occasion to reinvest ourselves in our small church
community vocation. What we do in small church communities, we do
not just for ourselves individually. We are about a vision for parish,
a vision where people regularly make a difference in each others’
lives and faith. If we are to be a church that makes a difference
in the world, we must first be a people who make a difference in each
others’ lives and faith within the church.
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The
Basic Ecclesial Community of Eastern Indonesia (Part II)
by
Father
Eugene Schmitz, SVD |
| Part
I of this essay appeared in the previous issue of Gatherings.
As this issue was being prepared, we received word that Fr.
Schmitz died recently of a heart attack in Indonesia. May he
rejoice with the Lord and may his efforts to animate the development
of basic ecclesial communities in the Diocese of Larantuka continue
to bear fruit. |
|
The second five-year Pastoral Plan of
the Larantuka diocese was aimed at forming the basic ecclesial communities
into being serving communities. Through the assistance of three main
programs adapted from LUMKO (i.e., the South African small Christian
community model), “The Kingdom”, “God Renews the
World through Us”, and the “Amos Program”, our people
were made aware that a worshipping community needs to bring its faith
into dealing with the local problems. Faith must be brought to bear,
not just in the individual community context, but also in the larger
community within which it lives and is a part. This new pastoral program
was aimed at preventing the basic community from becoming a closed
and inward-looking group concerned only about its own salvation. Rather,
we encourage them to develop into open and salvific communities that
bring the Good News to others, both those who have fallen away from
their faith and those who are indifferent to any faith. This witness
comes through the community’s real concern and genuine social
actions for the others. The Seven Step Gospel Sharing method was once
again reintroduced to those basic communities which had not fully
grasped its important role in creating an awareness of the whole community’s
mission to the world around them through the inspiration from the
Word of God.
The Basic Communities in the 5 main urban centers of the Diocese of
Larantuka were grouped together; usually 5-8 basic communities (some
10-15 families in each basic community) were grouped into a cluster
known as Lingkungan, which would have the same administrative structure
as the Parish Pastoral Council. Each Sunday a cluster group would
be assigned to serve at one of the Eucharistic celebrations, both
in the main parish church and the three chapels on the outskirts of
town. Arrangements for choir, lectors, gift bearers and ushers are
their responsibilities and usually they do a very excellent job in
carrying out their ministry. In all the other farm/rural parishes
the basic communities are grouped into a station cluster. Larger villages
would have more than one station cluster.
In 1995 the new Asian method and materials for forming, developing,
and sustaining the basic communities known as AsIPA (Asian Integral
Pastoral Approach) was introduced in the Larantuka diocese. This formation
methodology was based on the tried and proven method of LUMKO and
it has since spread to some 19 countries in Asia. Some countries have
both national and diocesan AsIPA teams. In 1999 the Deanery of Lembata
began training lay facilitators from the 12 parishes on the island
of Lembata, which has a population of 92 thousand people of which
80% are Catholic. This training was spread out over a four- year period.
Each group of roughly 30-40 participants was involved in two AsIPA
workshops over a two-year period. They were trained not only in creating
their own awareness programs for special community concerns and needs
but likewise to facilitate members of a basic community in deepening
their awareness and understanding. This training involved: the steps
in Gospel Sharing, the background, basic reasons for, and the main
characteristics of the Small Christian Communities, the genuine meaning
of a participatory church and a new understanding of leadership of
the small Christian communities. This year a follow-up program for
the lay facilitators is being conducted in each parish with an evening
of recollection, an evaluation of their activities among the basic
communities since their workshop. This is followed by a training with
three new modules, the choosing of a parish coordinator, and the drawing
up of a two- year action plan in conjunction with the parish priest
and head of the parish pastoral council. |
Before drawing up a Third
Five-Year Pastoral Plan, the Diocese of Larantuka sent out a diocesan-wide
questionnaire to all of the 2,037 basic communities, all of the 37
parish councils and priest teams. The 8 main areas of evaluation were:
The Leadership of the Basic Community; The Role of Scripture in Building
the Basic Community; Prayer Life and Worship of the Basic Community;
The Sacramental and Eucharistic Life of the Basic Community; The Involvement
in the Church Life (Station & Parish); The Involvement in the
Local Community; The Relationship with Other Religions; and Social
Awareness and Service. The results of the questionnaire were studied,
analyzed and confirmed in the 4th General Assembly of the Catholic
People of the Diocese of Larantuka in late October 1997. From this
Assembly emerged the present, Third Five-Year Pastoral Plan for the
improvement of our basic ecclesial communities. Leadership was found
to be one of the weak areas in that many of the lay leaders tended
to copy the government style leadership that has been heavily top-down.
Few had moved towards a more Christ-like leadership of leading from
within and together with all the members of the basic community. Consequently,
the third pastoral plan focused on “The Empowering of the Leadership
of the Basic Community”. This formation was begun with a 5-session
community awareness of the “Vision” in 1999, and is now
being followed by “Developing a Spirituality”. Three other
programs will follow: “Personality Development”; “Basic
Knowledge of the Faith”;  and
“Leadership Skills”. This training is being given to the
whole community and not just the present leaders, so that all will
be knowledgeable about the qualities needed in the leadership of their
basic community. It is important that potential leaders grow in awareness
of the basic requirements both of working together with the whole
community and of being willing to guide them in the spirit and power
of Jesus Christ.
Even though the life-threatening laws for the expulsion of all foreign
missionaries were put on hold by the former President Suharto, the
challenge that they presented to the Young Church of Indonesia were
a blessing in disguise. The threat truly assisted the emergence of
an indigenous clergy, especially in Eastern Indonesia, and a more
self-sustaining people of God who no longer have to look to the West
for their pastoral personnel and pastoral programs. Now they can offer
in return real assistance to the Universal Church in the form of indigenous
missionaries who can carry on the tradition and play a vital role
in the re-evangelization of Catholics in many parts of the world today.
At the same time this challenge has brought a new vitality to our
people. They are becoming more aware that they are truly church. In
living and participating in their basic ecclesial communities, they
not only help each other to grow and become more mature in their faith
and in their faith commitment, they also become involved in the life
of their parish and the in the life and problems of the social community.
God truly works in marvelous ways as he guides his people into the
third millennium. |
Questions for reflection and conversation
- What similarities and differences do you pick up from
the approach to basic ecclesial communities in Indonesia
and here at home?
- Service is a major theme of the Indonesian communities.
How strong a sense do you have of your small church community
as a serving community?
- There is a real emphasis in the Indonesian approach
to initial and on-going formation for basic ecclesial
communities. What kind of on-going formation would enrich
your experience of small church community?
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| Small
Community Happenings... |
Core Teams
The
core teams from St. Bridget, Manchester, St. Timothy, West Hartford
and St. Bernard, Enfield have now completed the basic core team formation
process. With Fr. Art Baranowski of the National Alliance of Parishes
Restructuring into Communities here to facilitate, these three parishes
participated in the two and a half day, Called to Be Church workshop
in November. They now join the other fully-fledged core teams in our
Alliance of parish core teams. Core teams from the Alliance parishes
meet three times a year for mutual resourcing. |
January Alliance
Meeting
Hosted
by St. Thomas, Southington, the Alliance parish core teams met on
January 24, 2005. St. Thomas core team chairperson, Bob Burke, introduced
the group to a particular approach to the spiritual reading of scripture.
He proposed the process of lectio divina as a way for small community
members to prepare for their meetings. |
Advisory Board
The
department’s advisory board welcomes three new members: Kelly
Knotts, St. Bridget, Manchester; Larry O’Neal, St. Thomas, Southington
and Sue Talarski, Sacred Heart, Suffield. They join members already
serving: Jim Birmingham, St. Mark, West Hartford; Gena Evans, St.
Martin de Porres, New Haven; Andrée Grafstein, St. Ann, Avon;
Fr. Jim Gregory, Torrington Cluster; Fr. Ron May, St. Patrick,Collinsville;
Deacon Bob Pallotti, St. Joseph, Bristol and Lynn Tidgwell, Sacred
Heart, Southbury. Bob Pallotti serves as chairperson. |
NAPRC Conference
In
the heads up department! The National Alliance of Parishes Restructuring
into Communities (NAPRC) will be holding its annual conference on
the east coast this year. It will be held at St. Charles Borromeo
Parish in Cinnaminson, New Jersey July 28-30. The theme will be Cultivating
a Communal Spirituality for Parish. The keynoter will be Fr. Ronald
Rolheiser, O.M.I. Conference brochures are now available from the
office. For more information go to naprc.faithweb.com/conference2005.htm |
New Book On Small
Christian Communities
Fr.
Joseph Healey, M.M. (Africa) and Jeanne Hinton (England) have just
finished co-editing a new book that focuses on the worldwide experience
of small Christian communities. Small Christian Communities Today:
Capturing the New Moment will be published in September 2005 by Orbis
Books, Maryknoll, NY. This is a multi-authored, ecumenical book that
captures the life of small Christian communities today across six
continents – Latin America, North America, Europe, Africa, and
Asia/Oceania. The seven USA-related chapters include Imaging Initiation
(RCIA) in Small Church Communities by Bro. Robert Moriarty, S.M. The
book includes a “Foreword” by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor,
the Archbishop of Westminster, England and a user-friendly, practical
section on “Resources and Annotated Bibliography (including
‘How to Use This Book’).” |
Buena Vista Convocation
The
2005 Buena Vista small Christian community convocation will take place
at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN August 4-7, 2005.
Speakers will include Latin American specialist in basic ecclesial
communities, Fr. Jose Marins. For more information go to buenavista.org. |
Joint SCC Website
www.smallchristiancommunities.org
Several
small church community related organizations across the country have
joined together to participate in a combined website that provides
quick and easy access to a variety of small church community resource
centers. Our Hartford archdiocesan office (sccquest.org)
participates in this linking effort. |
St. Dominic PowerPoint
Program
St.
Dominic (Southington) core team member, Dan Lucia, has designed a
PowerPoint presentation that – with some adaptation –
can be used by other parishes to promote small church communities.
It is incorporated into the St. Dominic parish website (saintdominicchurch.com).
Click first on programs and ministries, then on Small Christian Communities.
You can reach Dan at his e-mail address: dan.lucia@cox.net. |
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