Opening my parish visitation at Corpus Christi
This weekend I am kicking off my pastoral visitation of Corpus Christi parish in the westernmost part of the diocese of Montreal (a pastoral experiment I announced back in October). I have moved into the rectory for the week, with my portable office sitting downstairs on a desk to myself.
Now you may be wondering what a parish visitation actually is. I imagine the parishioners here will be asking themselves the same question, so I have prepared an explanatory letter to them so as to introduce the concept. I am happy to share it with you.
Dear brothers and sisters,
When I last was with you on October 22-23, 2011, I announced to the parish that I would be back in December. I am greatly looking forward to returning to be with you. As I had explained in my homily that weekend, the purpose of my presence in December will to be to undertake a pastoral visit of the parish. I know that the community has experienced a stressful time, and I would like for us to find together the best way to move forward.
The general purpose of this visit
Some of you may be wondering what a pastoral visit is all about. This is a very ancient tradition, in which the diocesan bishop (or his representative) goes and spends time with a parish get a sense of the life of that community. The Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops describes the general purpose of a pastoral visit as follows:
The pastoral visit is one of the ways, confirmed by centuries of experience, through which the Bishop maintains personal contact with the clergy and with other members of the People of God. It is an occasion to rejuvenate the energies of those engaged in evangelization, to praise, encourage and reassure them. It is also an opportunity to invite the faithful to a renewal of Christian life and to an ever more intense apostolic activity.
The pastoral visit helps the Bishop to evaluate the effectiveness of the structures and agencies designed for pastoral service, taking account of the circumstances and difficulties of the task of evangelization, so as to determine more accurately the priorities and the means required for overall pastoral provision.
The pastoral visit is therefore an apostolic activity to be carried out by the Bishop in true pastoral charity, which reveals him to be the principle and visible foundation of the unity of the particular Church. For the communities or institutions visited by the Bishop, it is an event of grace, reflecting in some measure that great visit with which the “chief Shepherd” (1 Pet 5:4) and Guardian of our souls (cf. 1 Pet 2:25), Jesus Christ, has visited and redeemed his people (Lk 1:68).
This is certainly a lofty vision of what a pastoral visit is meant to achieve. In concrete terms, however, what does a pastoral visit entail?
The procedure of a pastoral visit
In undertaking this pastoral visit at Corpus Christi, I intend to follow the following general schedule:
- On the weekend of December 3 and 4, I will celebrate the weekend masses with the community and preach the homily.
- During the following week, I will move into the parish rectory, living there and working out of a temporary office there.
- While I will need to be downtown a couple of times for meetings at the Archdiocese, I otherwise plan to spend all my time in the territory of the parish. I will meet with the parish leadership, as well as with leaders in the surrounding broader community.
- Parishioners who would like to meet with me one-on-one to discuss the life of the parish community are welcome to phone the office for an appointment.
On the weekend of December 10 and 11, I will again celebrate the weekend masses with the community, and present my observations. I am hoping that this independent view will then help the parish community in its pastoral planning.
What am I looking for?
The word visit comes from the Latin word visitare, which means “to come and see” so it would not surprise me if there were some people of the parish who are asking themselves, “what is the bishop looking for?” As you can imagine, I have asked myself this same question! To prepare for this visit, therefore, I explored our Catholic tradition, to discover what it means, in fact, to be a parish.
According to this tradition, a parish is fundamentally a stably-constituted community of the Christian faithful whose pastoral care is entrusted by the diocesan bishop to a pastor that they can call their own. The Eucharist is at the heart of this parish assembly. The role of the pastor goes far beyond the celebration of the Sunday mass, however. With the help of others, and assisted by a pastoral council, the pastor and the parishioners are together responsible to truly become the Kingdom of God for their neighbours and neighbourhood.
This is a tall order, of course, but it can be understood bit by bit. The Code of Canon Law does in fact give a sort of “job description” for a pastor, and by extension for a parish. Looking at this list, we can identify key elements of parish vitality. Not all of them will be present to the same degree in each parish, of course, which is part of the reason why pastoral visits are so important: they help us see the truth about the life of the community in a balanced way.
Questions I will be asking myself
As I undertake this pastoral visit, listening to people and making my own observations, I will of course be asking myself a few questions. Based on the “parish job description” I referred to before, I would like to share with you what, in general, these will be.
- What is the state of the parish network?
- What is the state of the liturgical life of the parish?
- How is the mission of preaching being carried out?
- How is the catechetical mission of the parish being carried out?
- How is growth in personal holiness being supported?
- How is the parish fostering practical works of charity in line with the spirit of the Gospel?
- How is the parish fostering Catholic education?
- How are families supported in their mission?
- How are parishioners living their joint stewardship?
- How is the parish reaching outside its boundaries?
This is quite a list, to be sure! And of course, it is possible that things will emerge during the visitation that are not on this list. Without wanting to be overly ambitious, it is my earnest hope that these reminders will help us all to have a complete picture of the life and vitality of the parish community.
Feedback and follow-up
Once the parish visit has concluded, it is my intention to reflect back to the community my observations regarding the dynamism and vitality of the parish. My intention would be to do this in an interactive way, such as through a Powerpoint presentation followed by a period of questions. A written report will be offered as well, so that it can feed into the planning of the life and growth of the community.
I suspect that the process of the parish visit will wind up discussing much that people are already aware of, but perhaps have not seen in an organized form. I also suspect that many will want to not only offer their observations but also their helpful suggestions for the life and growth of the parish. This will also be part of my feedback to the community. I imagine I will have a few suggestions myself.
In conclusion, I would like to share with you a fundamental belief of mine regarding parish life. I have been blessed to have experienced many different parishes as I grew and matured. In some ways they were the same, while in other ways each was unique. While all were part of the huge Catholic family, none of them was a mere local “franchise” of a vast spiritual corporation. Corpus Christi parish is not just some administrative unit of the diocese: it is a living part of the Body of Christ, planted in a particular place and time. This is a very special calling. My dream is that this parish visit will help the community to identify how it may focus and grow its energies, and that all the members of the parish will step up to the plate to make the westernmost tip of the island a little bit more like the Kingdom of God. In this, you can always count on my prayers and support.