The comments about parish sacramental celebrations come from Palmerston North's Bishop emeritus, Peter Cullinane, in an article published in Tui Motu.

Citing examples of the Church's mistakes, Cullinane says the lack of training for diocesan priests in ministry to Maori combined with the Church entrusting the ‘Maori Mission' to specialist groups ensures that most Maori do not feel 'at home' in our parish church celebrations of Eucharist.

He says that developing a sense of inclusiveness does not come about by running parallel Maori and European churches.

"The Church in our country is greatly indebted to the Religious Orders to whom the ‘Maori Mission' was entrusted," he writes.

Cullinane mentions the Society of Mary, the Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion, the Mill Hill Missionaries and the Congregation of Our Lady of the Missions in particular.

"Their work continues to bear fruit, and any alterations to pastoral practices need to safeguard the right of Maori to continue to experience life and worship in the Church in ways that are natural to them."

Nevertheless, Cullinane says, running a Maori Mission parallel to parishes had serious unintended side effects.

He writes it is against that background that introducing te reo into parish Eucharists seems a tiny gesture - but it is about recognition of tangata whenua, inclusion and belonging.

"Of course, it would be mere tokenism if it were not to follow through in all the ways required by respect for the rights of Maori in wider society and Te Tiriti o Waitangi."

Our celebrations of the Eucharist are meant to feed into our daily lives, Cullinane points out.

"Eucharistic life involves the rejection of racial prejudice and discrimination wherever these occur.

"In this way, the use of te reo in parish Eucharists should whet our appetites for the kind of hospitality, listening, sense of community and inclusiveness we have been talking about on the synodal journey."

He suggests that the next step is to experience Eucharist on a marae and recognise Maori's warm and welcoming ways.

"This way, people can see how these properly belong to the gathering stage of coming together for Eucharist.

"Respect for the rights of the home people can be only a first step in our reaching out to the many others in our society who suffer from inequalities …

"It also involves our support for other ethnic groups who can be victims of racial prejudice. Anything less than a prophetic stand for all these is less than Eucharistic."

Failure to address prejudice or help people disadvantaged by personal, social or economic conditions, proves the Second Vatican Council's claim:

"The split between the faith which many profess and their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age," writes Cullinane.

Source

• Tui Motu

In so many ways, it has replaced the pub as a meeting place, a stop-off point for anyone and everyone to pause a while over a hot coffee, to read or have a chat.

Across the world, café names have become an integral part of the High Street, an international brand that is immediately recognized.

The café has become commonplace, each with its own character, furnishings and specialities.

Even though they are not quiet places, maybe, in fact, because of it, they do provide a comfort zone where words arrive and stories develop.

Often an overheard phrase finds its way into something I am writing, sparks a movement, and stimulates an idea, only to re-emerge in a poem or article phrase sometime later.

I always carry with me a book to read and a notebook for writing, for they are part of what I do when I find a comfortable seat and order a cappuccino.

I have met a good many and varied people in the café, a passing nod of ten minutes conversation, unlikely to be repeated again, but informative and enjoyable while it lasted, some help on the way.

The staff who serve become familiar faces and, with frequent visits, have remembered names.

The history of the café goes back hundreds of years.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the café was a well-established, cosmopolitan meeting place, not only for social exchange but as a place where business might be conducted.

The world-renowned London Stock Exchange started trading in Jonathan's Coffee House in 1698 in the City. Other well-known establishments, such as Christies and Sotheby's, developed from the café gathering of interested merchants and businessmen.

It is not uncommon nowadays for laptops to be set open on tables, with a tapping of keys heard between sips of coffee and the person using it to be illuminated by the screen.

Apart from the convivial meeting place after the school run or an alcohol-free zone for a relaxing chat, they can also be places for serious exchange, for stories to be told and a time of careful listening.

"Meet me for a coffee sometime soon" can be another way of saying, "I have something to say, will you listen with me?"

Nourished by the Eucharist

Those churches that have a parish hall where groups can gather after sharing the Eucharist are indeed fortunate.

It raises the question as to whether or not community arises from Eucharistic sharing or does our Eucharist spring from the gathering we often call parish.

Either way, humans are gathering creatures, anxious to share in so many ways.

It is natural for us to share with each other and, along with company, to eat and drink together. It's what we do.

So our journey goes on day by day, nourished by the Eucharist, our presence helps others with their problems and difficulties.

Look around at the other tables the next time you are in a café; watch the expressions on the faces of those who sit and drink and talk, who stretch out a gentle hand in comfort to a friend.

Friendship is about both laughing and crying together, sharing the load.

I have just received a new collection of poems by the young Irish poet, Kerrie O'Brien. One of them, entitled "Hemingway" concludes with these lines:

How could he be so close
And I not know it
The worst time to search
Whiteout, blizzard sleet
I hadn't eaten
The hunger raw and persisting
But he led me
And right where he lived
A café
Rose star
In the wilderness
Warm jewel
Run by an American woman
Big hearted
Who took me in
And gave me a muffin
Flooded with raspberry
Bloodsweet, glittering, hot.
It then came
A thudding chant
Be still, still
In the howling
Have faith
Just a little longer

Maybe her last two lines — Have faith, Just a little longer — form the core of the Epiphany we live when sharing the Eucharist, nattering in the parish hall or being with strangers in the café.

It is the daily expression of our being Christian.

• Chris McDonnell is from England and is a regular contributor to La Croix International.
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

Now known as Dun Laoghaire, it is also where most passenger ships arrive at and leave from Dublin both then and now.

The idea of the Kingstown Pier as a disappointed bridge, unable to go all the way across the Irish Sea, says much about our many journeys.

And for those of us with an Irish background, it also tells of our ancestors who, forced by circumstance, nevertheless had courage to leave home.

Piers take you beyond the restrictions of the coastline.

They offer a different view and, most importantly, some bracing fresh air.

Bridges, on the other hand, take you over obstacles from one side to the other and enable you to continue the journey.

The Second Vatican Council of the mid-1960s could at first be considered a pier, a vantage point from where, leaving the safety of the shore, new visions could be seen.

John XXIII talked of "opening windows", many of which had been screwed shut for years.

There was excitement in the air, a springtime of expectancy, openness and confidence.

The Council remained no more than a pier for some.

Because of the anxiety, this new vision raised, they sought to make sure the pier never became a bridge.

At the first opportunity, they headed for the safety of the shore.

They seemed to disregard the words found in the Book of Proverbs: "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (29,18).

Kevin Kelly, in his book Fifty years receiving Vatican II, described the Council as "a continuing event" — in other words, a pier becoming a bridge.

That is, it's still leading us somewhere.

It is a gift that has been given.

• by being who we profess to be, a community brought together through the love of Christ.
• by listening to each others' story, sensitive to others' joys and sorrows, being willing to walk awhile in their company; not being afraid.
• by talking with each other, by being with each other and by praying together with sincerity; in that way we make our parish community real, we love one another.

"What is parish"

Too often our view of parish is a blend of motorway service station and imposed obligation.

Where is the outreach?

Where is the living liturgy that goes beyond patterns of words to offer inspiration to the people?

Given the increasing crisis in vocations to the priesthood, one of the crucial discussions we should be having, both priests and people, revolves around just three words — "What is parish?" For only when we have some grasp of what is, after all, a complex structure, can we continue bridge-building.

One thing we easily forget is that, although it has become a convenient construct of organization within a diocese, a parish needs a great deal of effort to make it a living, vital community.

Francis of Assisi, the inspiration of our current Bishop of Rome, directly said to the first friars, "You only know as much as you do!"

A parish of passive attenders falls short of the mark.

Not so long ago, those who shared in the Eucharist knew each other by name, they were "local". But not necessarily the case today given our increased mobility.

We are often away from our parish home and become visitors in another place sharing their Eucharist, welcome guests at the table of the Lord.

We need to find new ways forward and not be afraid of change.

• Chris McDonnell is a retired headteacher from England and a regular contributor to La Croix International.
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

For others, and for a possible range of reasons, the local parish is no longer spiritually nourishing.

One woman, Betty Ann Asaro, and has become a remote parishioner at Saint Cecilia Church in Boston, Massachusetts, probably now for about a year.

She admits being a remote parishioner is not the ideal, but by taking responsibility for her spiritual life, growth and development, she is in some way being spiritually nourished, unlike she was previously.

When COVID began, Asaro was not a registered parishioner in any Catholic church. She attended a church that was near where she happened to be.

It wasn't that she didn't want to register into a parish.

It was she could not find a parish where she felt there was community.

Asaro tells her story.

"So when I was introduced to the liturgy, which was live-streamed at St Cecilia, I can't tell you what it did to me.

"It's like my whole world opened up, and I knew that I wanted to continue to participate in this live-stream liturgy every Sunday.

"Last September, and October, St Cecilia's was looking for volunteers.

"They could be remote. And I'm like, Wow. And they wanted people to volunteer to assist them with the live-stream liturgy. Didn't know how, but I wrote an email. I want to be a part of that Sunday," said Asaro.

"So as soon as the Mass begins and the opening song occurs, the online chat starts.

"It's simultaneous with Mass!

"Once in a while, someone will say, Oh, so happy to see you, Annette, who says she was 'blown away' by the experience.

"I don't think they realize the depth of the little seeds of connection that people are feeling," she said.

Asaro says she's ok most of the times getting through the liturgy, but admits she has a problem when it comes to Holy Communion.

She says she wants to receive Holy Communion but relises she is not able to.

Asaro says that instead of receiving Communion she prays fervently, but admits it is not the same.

However, because she wants to receive Holy Communion and be nourished sacramentally Asaro, on occasions, attends a weekday Mass.

She says live-streaming Mass is something she's not totally comfortable with, but is something she has to live with.

"To be connected to Saint Cecilia (live-stream) means that I am able to go there and be supported in my faith. To live my day with hope."

Asaro knows that St Cecilia is not the only church in the United States or in the world that has this community, and while not physically present, it is a community that nourishes her and that people now have a choice.

Pope Francis dropped the proposal out of the blue, really, last October, although he had been hinting at the notion for years.

We have a date and place, critical themes, an ample handbook and supporting documents to go with the formal announcement. October 2023 in Rome is fixed in the calendar.

The whole Church is to contribute. That is why it has been billed as the largest consultation process in history.

Growing the synodal parish

But can we have a synodal Church if we don't start the process of growing the synodal parish?

There is no rush to perfect the model instantly because we are on a journey — together. But this journey needs many travellers and a commitment to go the distance.

No need for blinding light but conversion is definitely involved.

We are familiar with the idea of a pilgrim people journeying to their God and the Promised Land. We have just journeyed with Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem for the birth of our Savior. We have travelled with the Wise men from the East.

We are now called to embark on, arguably, the most significant journey in the history of the Church — since that enabling birth. The challenges of the Reformation pale into insignificance.

We are Church

As we are the Church, the People of God, we have the highest duty to renew the Sacrament of the Church that Jesus gave us.

The Church is not the brick or stone building we have become comfortable in; it is not over there but right here, where we are.

That means the change Pope Francis contemplates requires us to change.

We know that we can no longer persist in the old paradigm of comfort from inside. The public square requires us, individually and collectively, to take the Lord's message to the people and to act differently.

There is the clearest imperative to start the process. There are three key elements of synodality — Communion, Participation and Mission. If they are to have real bite we need to begin at the local level.

We, as a local parish, are a microcosm of the Church. No better place to start.

Discernment for the Synod meeting will be enlivened by actual experience of existential parish practice.

As we embrace the pope's call to become a Church that acts differently (not a new Church) there is no reason for delay.

The first key element — Communion

How might we start - locally?

If communion means conversations that lead to a conversion to Christ and commitment to active participation in the mission given by Christ, we can do that better. There is nothing new here -- in substance — but there is ample room for radical improvement.

Francis explained that in detail more than eight years ago in Evangelii Gaudium, the apostolic exhortation from 2013.

Improvement is the nature of Christian life. If we add to the mix recognition that we are now living in a secular society where religion has an optional place there is a crying need for missionary discipleship to take on a new dimension.

The second key element - Participation
Equally, the idea of the People of God talking with one another and importantly listening to one another is not new.

But it must now be different, and the listening must be genuinely active - at all levels and on all subjects.

The third key element - Mission

The communion that exists for a common purpose will enable the mission to flow - ever more smoothly.

Missionary discipleship must be the impulse for the whole Church as Francis invites us. The inseparable bond between our faith and the poor must remain axiomatic (EG 48).

On this journey, it is essential that we abandon any vestige of clericalism -on the part of clerics and the baptized faithful. That's easier said than done, given our historical attachment to monarchical structure, class, power and position.

Hopefully, the concept of collaboration in all parish affairs will be recognized and practiced uniformly.

"Father" is no longer expected to approve the replacement of failed light globes, let alone actually undertake the replacement task.

The parish council or leadership group is elected or appointed after consultation. In its operations, it will act collaboratively and consult widely.

Its role will be welcomed.

The engagement between the parish council and the pastor will be a model of collaboration. The mutual role of service will be embraced.

Parish tasks will be shared as widely as possible and not held tightly by a few.

The end of anonymity

Pope Francis says communion describes the very nature and mystery of the Church. That implies parish members will know more than a handful of parishioners' names.

There's no room for anonymous arrival, private prayer and unchallenged departure under the guise of celebrating the Eucharist.

All will arrive at church or place of worship in communion, greet each other warmly and worship in communion.

• Full, active participation will be transformative because of the connection of a people no longer present as individuals but intimately linked in the Paschal Mystery.
• The Word of God will be broken open to participants who increasingly appreciate the detail of the scriptural message of redemption and companionship, a familiarity too long neglected.
• The memorial of the Last Supper and Calvary will offer an impact like never before as we gather in communion at the foot of the cross.
• The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ will be received in communion for the ultimate earthly encounter with the Lord and the fuel of the mission to follow.
• The dismissal that concludes the formal celebration of Eucharist will more clearly signal the beginning of the missionary work of Christ, as parishioners depart in communion to "put out into the deep".

Parish groups will be open, collaborative and reflect the sense of communion that underpins the synodal parish. Territorialism, power, "we have always done it this way", anonymity and control must be abandoned.

Parish activities will reflect the new order - in practice not just in theory.

We are talking about deep change and we know most change is anathema!

There are many potholes, loose rock and byways to encounter on this journey. The change cannot happen overnight. But let's make a start.

Let's grow synodal parishes for a synodal Church.

• Justin Stanwix is a deacon at St Mary's Star of the Sea Parish, Milton in the Diocese of Wollongong (Australia).
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

He explained to Mélinée Le Priol how he embraced a more collaborative view of ministry and being Church through the parish missions carried out by visiting religious order priests.

La Croix: Your parish extends over 20 towns and villages. What does the mission consist of in these rural areas?

Jean-Luc Gebelin: There are 40 kilometres between the two most distant towns of my parish! The main obstacle to Church life here is fragmentation, dispersion.

In a world where being a believer is no longer a given, Christians need to come together to live out their faith.

This observation was one of the starting points for the popular itinerant missions that took place here beginning in the 1980s, at the initiative of the former bishop of Nîmes, Mgr. Jean Cadilhac.

These missions, entrusted to the Lazarists [also known as the Vincentians], provided a powerful moment for the Church in the villages, bringing people together.

Personally, I took part in the missions in the different parishes where I was parish priest almost continuously from 1999 until 2020, before the first lockdown…

How are they going?

I will speak in the past tense because, unfortunately, to my knowledge, there are no more today due to a lack of succession among the Lazarists.

In the past, a missionary team of a few Lazarists would come and spend three weeks in a group of two to four villages.

The parish priest and the laity also took part in the mission, which mixed different states of life. During these three weeks, we all worked at the same task.

But once this bond was created between the people, and even once the Lazarists left, I said to myself that we had to continue!

Every year in our villages, for about fifteen years, we organized events with the laity. It was a way to extend the three weeks of the initial mission.

In any case, we had a lot to learn from the Lazarists and their missionary charism, with this capacity to always go elsewhere, without settling down too much.

What was the issue? Mobilizing beyond the parish circle, by reaching people who are sometimes far from the Church?

Yes. A team of volunteers went to all the houses in the few villages that hosted the mission, to bring the invitation to the residents. This invitation took the form of a leaflet detailing the events of the mission (celebrations, shows, walks, Bible stories, etc.).

To do this, we had to overcome a lot of reticence because it requires involvement to ring the doorbell of your neighbours while presenting yourself as Catholic!

It was not easy for me either...

I had never done this before, going to strangers' homes to invite them to Church events.

You wonder how you will be received. But the reception was almost always favourable. People were touched that we were interested in them.

This is perhaps what we Catholics miss the most: being aware that, as long as we are not intransigent, people are happy to meet us.

In what way were you, the laity and the Lazarists "co-responsible" in the mission?

We were above all responsible for a very concrete project!

Choosing activities, designing a poster, reserving a room with the town hall. Organizing the mission called on the skills of each one of us, on our knowledge of the territory, on our close relationships, etc.

In the various shows we put on, on the Passion or on the Emmaus witnesses, there were up to forty of us on stage!

For each mission, we also wrote a prayer to distribute to the people with the invitation leaflet. Each person would come up with his or her own ideas and we would share them.

I reread some of these prayers years later and was moved to see that they were partly answered.

What fruits did these missions bear?

We remain fragile, and there are not many more of us in church on Sundays. But I am convinced that if we still exist today, it is because of that.

Most of the current members of the pastoral animation team in my parish have been involved in missions.

That says a lot about how they have welded our community together and pushed Christians to get involved. We have experienced that doing something together is possible.

So even though we can see the metamorphosis of society and of the Church, we say to ourselves that there are still resources and that not everything has been exploited. We have a great future ahead of us.

Moreover, one of the fruits of these missions are the "Gospel Houses", which are spreading today in our diocese of Nîmes, allowing people to meet around the Word of God.

Why do you think the complementarity between priests and laity is so central to the missionary dynamic?

Simply because one cannot do a mission alone!

The mission - just as, more broadly, the Church - is a collective work.

In the Gospels, Jesus much more often addresses his apostles in the plural rather than the singular. And he asks them to pray by saying "our father," not "my father".

Carrying the pastoral load together is so much easier! On my own, there are many things I would not do. For the mission, we must pool our strengths and our weaknesses.

I insist on the weaknesses because otherwise we are tempted to believe we are all-powerful, and that cannot work.

As a priest, you don't have a position of authority?

No. I always start from the principle that we have to do it together. If you want people to be involved, then you have to get involved yourself.

In the missions, I have always remained at the side of the parishioners, for example by playing a role in the shows, just like the others.

The mission is also for us priests: we need it a lot! It stimulated me a lot.

In any case, I like working in a team. On my own, it drags, I don't know where I'm going.

In a team, the vision is broader and, sometimes, light breaks out. Succeeding together brings me a lot of joy.

We learn to receive from each other, we realize that we do not own things. The diversity of our talents makes something happen that was not planned.

In your opinion, what will be the proper place of the priest in a more synodal Church?

It is clear that for the future of the Church, priests alone will not be able to do anything.

I find that lay people help us to get out of our sterile oppositions between priests of different sensibilities: they help us to go further.

For me, being a priest means above all being a servant of dialogue between people.

• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

World War II changed Western history. The post-war Catholic parish was an institutional wonder.

It took off with the baby boom, reached its peak in the 1980s, started its decline in the 1990s and may well be mortally wounded by the COVID-19 epidemic in the 2020s.

The parish of my wartime infancy appeared timeless.

It was an identifiable part of the wider culture but, for Catholics, it was a mainstay of life. Baptisms, marriages and funerals happened there. Most Catholics started formal schooling there.

That is where you ritualised being a Catholic. Lifelong personal and family friends were made. It had its social oddities such as not eating meat on Friday, the practice of confession and regular Sunday Mass. Adherence was tribal.

Post-war reconstruction for Catholics brought new vitality to the parish. With population growth came new parishes and schools.

The baby boom brought not only a large new generation of members but increased vitality and vision to the whole of society. The times - they were a changin.

Vatican II was in tune with that change

The fortress church lowered its drawbridge and out streamed the People of God on a march towards establishing a new Kingdom of God - a new world order marked by identification with the hopes and joys, the griefs and anxieties of all, mutual respect, the discarding of bygone enmities, diminished sectarianism an improved life for everybody and a fairer society.

Parishes implemented that new vision. The laity moved into active mode. There were youth groups, senior citizens groups, social justice groups, parent groups, social groups sporting groups.

And all had their formal coming together in the parish liturgy which, while led by clergy, was no longer a clerical preserve, and was in a language all could embrace and understand.

Lay action and leadership became a top policy in the renewed Church - especially with the youth. The Young Christian Worker movement (YCW) formed a whole generation to see, judge and act. Loads of young priests who were mentors of this movement.

The parish was a scene of action and vitality.

But an undertow was forming under this enthusiasm.

Paul VI went along with the awakening vision but was still a product of the Ancien Regime of Christendom and a lifetime operative of its clerical bureaucracy.

He feared that the new enthusiasm would get out of hand. So, he put on the brakes. He re-affirmed priestly celibacy and condemned contraception. His technique of moderating the exuberance was by appointing conservative bishops.

Ten years later, Restoration became the official Church policy with the election of John Paul II.

By the end of the 1980s fault lines started to show in the Church. You noticed them in the parish. The earliest pointer was a drop in Mass attendance and affiliation.

Adult parishioners in their day had found their social life in the parish. But, now, the new generation found their social stimulus in a wider world. Once they reached adulthood, they dropped Mass.

No longer compelled to set an example, their parents started to drift away themselves.

As society became more secular, the Church hierarchy grew more rule-insistent and less pastoral.

Rather than re-discovering the core of the Jesus message and recontextualizing it, the hierarchy, supported by revisionist Catholics, chose to stick more tightly to their guns only to be left irrelevant and increasingly alone.

The bishop in mitre and crosier - once an image of authority - became a curio from the past.

Enter COVID-19

The numbers tell the tale.

Already by the time the pandemic hit, Mass attendance had dropped to about 10 percent. Catholic school enrolments are not as solid. Locally born clergy are dying out. Foreign priests are struggling. Parishes are being closed or amalgamated. The ranks of committed supporters are ever thinning. The institutional decline is clear to all.

And now COVID-19 lockdowns have hit.

Large areas have not had a church gathering for months. Where religious gatherings have been resumed, only a fraction of the former congregations seem to have come back. Social distancing results in unrecognisable liturgies. It's not the way it used to be.

At a practical level, income has dropped - perilously - and with no signs of reversal. There is a critical level of income below which you cannot run a parish.

The institutional parish as we knew it is on its knees. Hence the grieving for lost glory days.

Mind you, it is an institution that is being mourned - not the central vision articulated by Vatican II.

The church as an institution is in trouble but not the Church as the People of God.

All institutions rise and fall. Visions endure and can find new institution vehicles. There are millions of true believers out there. They just find the current institution is not fit for purpose.

The shape of future Christianity

Synods and regional councils are institutional attempts to address the challenge.

A German synodal assembly seems to be making progress. The Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMENCE) is doing its own soul searching on the problem.

An Australian Plenary Council is in preparation but getting mixed support. Some, including many bishops, don't want it. Others, browned off by past efforts which went nowhere, are cynical.

One hopeful sign is the emergence of small groups of well-informed Catholics with Church renewal as their shared objective.

They are not well received by the institutional leadership but are persistent in their wish to re-invigorate Catholic Christianity.

They are active in synod and council preparations but do not rely on them for their future. Groups of them meet regularly to remember and celebrate the Lord as the first followers did.

The institutional parish may have run its course, but the Christian spark is not extinguished. It is just taking new forms.

• Eric Hodgens is a theologian and senior priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne (Australia).

This has been obvious for some time: In 2015, Catholic Creatives, an online community of artists and entrepreneurs, met specifically to diagnose the issue of important information getting lost in bad bulletin design.

A parish bulletin redesign does not have to be a daunting task.

I combed through dozens of parish bulletins from around the country and noticed a similar set of design issues. Most of them just need to be simplified.

These 10 considerations can help create a bulletin people will actually read.

Make sure your bulletin is legible

Most of the bulletins I have seen are simply too difficult to read. Text is disorganized, content is packed too tightly, and important information is easily lost.

You should not expect readers to work hard to access the bulletin's information. Consider asking a few trusted people: "Is this clear? Can you read this easily?"

Keep things organized

Reading a parish bulletin can feel like opening someone's junk drawer.

You have to sift through the pastor's letter, the announcement about the clothing drive and even the odd quotation from St. Augustine before finding the schedule for Mass.

Think of visual organization like sorting items into boxes based on their function. For example, all parish announcements should be grouped together, Mass and confession times should be together, and recurring features like the parish directory should be found in the same place every week.

But resist the temptation to use actual boxes with hard borders in your design. Even worse are "fun" borders.

A concert announcement does not need to be in a box with a border of musical notes. This kind of embellishment is tacky, unprofessional and outdated.

Consistency is your friend

Designers at publications like National Geographic, The New York Times and America spend a lot of energy on eye-catching covers and inside pages. But they know readers come to expect certain elements, whether it's National Geographic's signature yellow border or the publication name on the cover of America.

The same can be said of parish bulletins.

If it seems as if you are designing from scratch every week, readers will sense it.

Save yourself time and keep elements like font and colour scheme consistent.

If your parish has a logo, keep using that. The same rule applies inside: Each page should feel like a part of the same bulletin.

Strive for simplicity

So many bulletins are overcrowded. Not only is there too much information on any given page, but unnecessary elements make the bulletin harder to read.

I already mentioned "fun" borders, and no one needs a clip-art photo of a loaf of bread to know about next month's bake sale.

The project of decluttering should affect every single aspect of the bulletin design. It starts with getting rid of "https://www" before every website address.

Consider moving that list of parish committee members from the bulletin to the parish website. And do not cram the parish directory, the pastor's letter and weekend Mass times on the cover along with a large illustration for that week's Gospel reading.

Establish a hierarchy

Hierarchy in design has less to do with popes and bishops and more to do with clearly communicating what a reader should see first, second, third, etc.

It allows the reader to move through the bulletin without getting confused or overlooking key information. For example, Mass times should appear higher in the bulletin's hierarchy than the parish directory.

You can establish a hierarchy by changing an element's size, placement on the page and colour. Readers are drawn to bigger items first and tend to read from the left side of the page to the right. Be aware of this when putting together each page. Continue reading

On Feb. 17, 2016, during his visit to Mexico, Francis prayed and laid flowers at a memorial for the thousands of migrants who have died trying to reach the United States.

Its towering cross, built on a concrete platform overlooking the militarized international bridge between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, Tex., was emblazoned with a silhouette of the holy family fleeing into Egypt.

Francis' visit to the border was emblematic of the gravitational force at the heart of his pontificate: the constant pull toward the margins. Dwelling in silent prayer in a space charged with the memory of injustice and human suffering, Francis invited the whole church to dwell there too.

He invited us, in other words, to make a preferential option for the borderlands.

There we find the crucified and risen Christ whom we encounter.

But living as we do in a historical moment characterized by profound ideological polarization and wide-scale conflation of legal status with moral status, advocating for a theological and pastoral commitment to the borderlands is not easy.

In our distorted national imagination, the specter of the border looms both as a dam, holding back oncoming tides of the undesired other, and as a frontier to be conquered: militarily, economically and culturally.

Borderlands become checkpoints, endpoints, spaces of danger and suspicion beyond which we dare venture only as missionaries or tourists—never as equals, lest we, too, become undesirable.

They are spaces from which, like Nazareth, we who are formed to fear them grow to believe that nothing good can ever come.

Such formation renders empathy impossible.

In this distorted national imagination, the architectural form proper to the border is not the bridge but rather the iron fence or the concrete wall.

Taught to fear our geographical borderlands, we imbibe in turn a fear of the borders that exist within our own communities—the spaces in our parishes, neighborhoods and schools where races, cultures and classes meet.

Such fear must be rejected.

Jesus' own thoroughgoing marginality in the Gospels invites us to recognize borders as spaces where Christ is revealed in our midst, where the church is being stretched and reshaped.

Re-envisioning borders not as spaces where identities and relationships end but rather where they might begin to grow, we are better able to perceive in them the possibility of encounter, conversion and salvation.

Solidarity across near and distant borders becomes a real possibility when we approach this joining not as a display of begrudging welcome but as a soteriological act: a desire for true communion with our neighbors.

The questions Pope Francis implicitly poses to us, then, is:

• Where are the borders in our midst?
• Where are we being called to build bridges?

It is tempting to believe that missionary discipleship—the outward, centrifugal impulse toward loving encounter of which Francis often speaks—compels us to journey elsewhere.

In the first world, our largely racially, culturally and economically segregated existences encourage the misconception that in order to encounter difference in consequential and challenging ways, we need to travel half a world away—as on a service trip.

The notion that the place for solidarity is somewhere else is a deceptive one, because it risks absolving us of our responsibility to scrutinize the contours of our own local realities.

I want to suggest that for Catholics, the work of solidarity across borders begins in that most local of communities: the parish. Continue reading

Eleni Pinnow wrote the obituary for her young adult sister Aletha.

She began, "Aletha Meyer Pinnow, 31, of Duluth (formerly of Oswego and Chicago, Illinois) died from depression and suicide on February 20, 2016."

There it was, front and center: Aletha died from depression.

Eleni went on to write how her "hilarious, kind, loving sister couldn't see any of that in herself."

Depression created an "impenetrable fortress that blocked the light, preventing the love of her friends, her family, and any sense of comfort and confidence from reaching her."

She says depression "lied" to her sister. It told her she was "worthless."

But that was so far from the case. Eleni had to tell the truth.

As a pastoral minister, I do, too.

I have seen depression rack people—family, friends, colleagues, college students, and people in my parish.

Church communities need to bring depression out of the dark, expose it as the dangerous disorder it is, and then work on ways to care for people going through it.

The National Institute of Mental Health labels depression a "common but serious mood disorder."

Their research indicates 350 million people—or 5 percent of the world's population—suffer from it each year.

A 2014 study by Paul E. Greenberg and colleagues found the estimated costs of depression in the United States are over $210 billion.

Clinical psychologist Rudy Nydegger describes depression as an "equal opportunity disorder" that "can affect anyone of any group, background, race, gender, age—anyone."

Emotionally, depression may make a person feel sad, worthless, or empty.

Behaviorally, a person experiencing depression may lack energy or motivation to engage daily tasks.

Cognitively, depression can make it difficult to focus at work or in school.

A friend experiencing depression describes it as a cycle.

He says, "Some days are good, some days are not so good, but the cycle never relents."

Another colleague says depression makes him feel "lonely, unlovable, and de-energized."

Diagnosing depression is challenging.

There is a wide spectrum of symptoms that people experience at various levels of intensity for a host of reasons.

A person may feel irritable, tired, and uninterested in a hobby she previously enjoyed. Is this part of the "normal" rhythm of life or could there be an abnormal medical issue going on?

If left untreated, depression can lead to severe isolation, substance abuse, or even death, as with Aletha.

How can parish communities be proactive in ministering to people who may be depressed?

Let's consider three common stigmas associated with people with depression and explore how people of faith can respond. Continue reading

• Image: Alphr

Queenstown architect Fred van Brandenburg first mooted the Olive Leaf - a multi-use parish centre situated beside the heritage-listed St Patrick's Catholic Church - in 2015.

It has the blessing of the Catholic Diocese of Dunedin, which owns the land, but its modern design has provoked opposition from some Arrowtown residents. Continue reading

Another is the fact that my wife and I were never made to attend a Catholic marriage preparation course.

If we had been members of a parish where the mind-numbingly dull half-year of expensive weekend retreats had been required, we would have gone through with it, obviously.

Offering up suffering is a gift of the Holy Ghost denied even to the glorious angels in heaven.

I say this because it is only as a kind of purgative trial justly demanded of the pious faithful by Mother Church in the exercise of her disciplinary infallibility that it is possible to make sense of the six-month-long exercise in mandatory tedium known in the US as "Pre-Cana" (the mawkish reference to Our Lord's first miracle is worthy of Hallmark).

The spiritually edifying qualities of these rectory chats on subjects such as "Conflict Resolution Skills" and "Finances" are best summed up by secular interpolators at a website called BridalGuide.com:

You may be wondering, what exactly is Pre-Cana? Don't worry … you won't be hearing lectures about going to church every week and going to Confession.

It's more like pre-marital counselling, to help prepare you for marriage.

In our case, marriage counselling meant two 20-minute conversations with our pastor.

This is as it should be.

When it comes to marriage, Shakespeare's Friar Lawrence is a model shepherd of souls.

A good student of St Paul, he knows what marriage is for, which is why his first priority is the avoidance of sin, not the maintenance of community standards.

Indeed, I have always found modern-day adaptations of the play implausible, because today's Romeo and Juliet would have had to spend a considerable portion of their young lives taking quizzes on "Spirituality/Faith" and "Careers" in order to get the go-ahead from their diocese.

The way the post-conciliar Church cordons off the sacraments is a perfect example of how she has become insufferably middle-class.

Working-class people and bohemian misfits like me are not community-minded.

We loathe the notion of therapy, especially if it involves making small talk with people we don't know about things that are very dear to our hearts.

People with real jobs often work on Saturdays; they haven't got time or money for couples' weekend retreats to horse farms with Fr Dialogue.

Meanwhile, middle-class people enjoy being treated like (rather stupid) children.

They like play-time and share-time and snack-time and loathe the idea of privacy; they enjoy shaking hands and holding hands, which is why their favourite parts of the new Mass are the Sign of Peace and the standing-up Paternoster.

They take positive delight in these things for the same mysterious reasons that they enjoy working for those companies that require semi-annual "team-building exercises" - scavenger hunts and other pre-teen activities between mandatory presentations on LGBTQ sensitivity.

The only thing worse than current Church practice regarding marriage is the preposterous bureaucracy that prevents children from being baptised in a timely fashion. Continue reading

• Image: Portsmith Cathedral

As the pastor of a multigenerational, multicultural, and multilingual (Spanish, Vietnamese, and English) parish, I at times feel responsible for untying a lot of wet knots.

Farm workers from Central Mexico founded the parish where I serve, La Purisima Church in Orange, California, in 1923.

They gathered under a pepper tree for Mass until they saved enough money for a wooden mission church.

The parish built a new church in 1958 and another in 2005.

Normally new construction signals a healthy community coming together.

However, the Hispanic community came to believe that the parish was discriminating against their community and started picketing on the sidewalk before the new church opened in 2005.

Protests continued through 2014.

I did not serve at the parish during most of its history and can comment only on the repercussions.

However, I don't believe enough people considered the effect the new large worship space, driven by donations from mostly white parishioners, could have on others.

For example, a large new sanctuary meant fewer Sunday liturgies. But who gets the favoured morning or best vigil times?

Neglect leads to public protest

The new Mass schedule offered 10 liturgies in English, one in Vietnamese, and one in Spanish.

This created a sense of loss and alienation for the Latino community, who founded the church and yet felt they were not welcome.

The new church, they felt, neglected to value them as agents of their own pastoral needs or religious practices.

The energy of the parish focused on the new building and not on the pastoral life of the Latino community.

Eventually, their alienation and disempowerment found expression in picketing, which began before construction was completed and lasted for almost a decade.

Over the next nine years, the parish went through three different diocesan pastors until, in early December 2014, Bishop Kevin Vann asked me to pastor La Purisima.

I accepted the assignment with the mutual understanding that the manifest unhappiness of the Hispanic community had not arisen overnight and could not be cured instantaneously.

It would take some time to untie this knot.

Armed guards

My first pastoral decision was to unemploy the armed guard hired to "keep the peace."

I also began the typical task of putting names to faces and meeting my staff, who shared in the task of ministering to this diverse community of 4,000 parishioners.

My next decision was to declare a pastoral amnesty and a new beginning for everyone in the parish.

The war was over between the different language groups and everyone had won.

There would no longer be any in groups or out groups or welcomed or unwelcomed people.

Anyone seeking the Lord would be welcome.

Access to parish facilities and involvement in Masses was open to all.

Meanwhile, I refused to assign blame for the conflicts, instead focusing on parishioners' experiences.

Three weeks later, just as I thought things were settling down, 30 families picketing in front of the church surprised me.

Armed with a thermos of coffee, some paper cups, and a trembling heart, I headed out to the sidewalk. Surprised and startled, they eventually took me up on the coffee, but hesitated on my offer to speak with them in my office regarding their concerns. Continue reading

At their spring assembly, the bishops heard from three married couples speaking about marriage and the family.

One of the couples, Ricardo and Lucia Luzondo, raised the issue of seminarian and priest formation.

"We understand the importance of the study of theology and philosophy, Mr Luzondo told the bishops.

"But we have noticed from our personal conversations with many priests and seminarians and from the many comments of couples that constantly approach them to seek their guidance and advice on how to face their marital challenges that many times, they don't feel competent or comfortable doing so," he said.

"And for these reasons, oftentimes they limit or avoid their pastoral care of couples or even offer spouses counselling and advice that is not in line with the many pastoral letters on marriage."

Spouses and couples in conflict "reach out to their churches for help when they face marital conflict", Mr Luzondo said, even if they have not been to church in a long time.

"This is a prime opportunity for evangelisation," he said.

The Luzondos, who have been married for 15 years, said there is a "great need" for more extensive formation and training for seminarians as well as enrichment for priests on attending to the pastoral needs of couples.

The Luzondos also questioned how well the Church helps engaged couples become active members of parish communities.

"Moreover, once they are married, it seems that we often fail to provide them with sufficient accompaniment and appropriate resources to maintain a happy and joyful marriage," Mrs Luzondo said.

Claire and John Grobowski, who have been married for 30 years, in their message to the bishops noted: "It is impossible to have a strong marriage without Christian community."

"The heart of how we grow in holiness in marriage is learning how to serve each other and ultimately to help each other get to heaven," Mrs Grobowski said.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: RGB stock

The Irish Times reported an invitation by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to priests and parishioners to hold meetings on the subject.

In a letter to priests and parishes, Archbishop Martin stated that Pope Francis wants Catholics around the world to have an opportunity to make their contribution to the process.

He said: "Worldwide, there is a great appreciation of the fact that Pope Francis wanted to hear the sentiments of [Catholics] on the theme of the synod.

"I believe we owe it to Pope Francis to use this opportunity for reflection - and indeed a new model of church practice - which he offers."

Each parish is to determine itself how that discussion should take place in February and March.

Responses from the discussions are expected to be presented at the Dublin archdiocese's office of evangelisation and ecumenism before the end of March.

This will allow for a consolidated report from the Irish church to be ready in time for the preparation of the formal working document at the synod.

Archbishop Martin said there was an important distinction between the purposes of the synods which took place last October and that planned for next October.

This should be reflected in the discussion process, he said.

He explained that the aim of the extraordinary synod last year was to gather factual information about the situation of marriage and the family in our time.

The aim of the ordinary synod in October is to take up the conclusions of last years' synod and begin the reflection on how church pastoral services for marriage and family life should be strengthened and renewed.

Discussion and reflection involving priests and lay people have also been initiated in Australia and England and Wales, ahead of the synod.

The theme for October's synod is "The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World".

Sources

• Irish Times
• Catholic Herald
• Catholic Weekly
• Image: Irish Times

The proposed project has three components:

• An addition to the front of the church with a new ‘gathering space'
• The creation of a plaza which would connect three sites in the church's ownership and would incorporate the road between them
• Alteration of the parking and access arrangement for the church and school.

Vehicle traffic for the site would be re-directed in a one-way system around the existing house at 4 Beatrice Road, which would allow for 20 off street parking spaces as well as for pick up and drop offs.

The parish is proposing to sell the three flats it owns at 8 Beatrice Rd, next door to the parish house, to raise funds for developing the parish amenities.

Last week a local suburban newspaper the East & Bays Courier, reported it had received a copy of its latest survey about the project, which sought a blessing from the parish to go ahead with the sale of 8 Beatrice Rd.

The newspaper said the person who provide the survey to the newspaper did so anonymously.

It also published a remark by the unnamed source that it was "foolish to sell income-producing property to finance an old man's folly."

The old man referred to is, presumably, the long standing parish priest St Michael's, Monsignor Brian Arahill.

The Catholic Diocese of Auckland's communications officer Dame Lyndsay Freer says the statements made in reference to St Michael's parish priest are ridiculous.

The comments about Monsignor Arahill are "disgusting" because he has dedicated himself to the parish and surrounding community for some time, Freer says. It is "reprehensible" the writer did not have the courage to identify themselves, she says.

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Auckland City Council
• Image: Eventfinder.co.nz

The new pope's agenda is simple: spread the good news of Jesus Christ in a freer and more convincing way. Christ stated the church's mission very plainly: "Go out and make disciples of all the nations."

Here in America, Catholic parishes need to take measures to better carry out this mission, including:

Parishioners and clergy must take responsibility for evangelisation

The church is not a spiritual McDonald's whose success largely depends on its managers, the clergy.

Paraphrasing President John Kennedy's call to service, "Ask not what the church can do for you, but what you can do for the church."

Evangelicals and Pentecostals have much to teach Catholics in this regard.

Polls show Catholics stayed away from church because they were ignored, slighted, or scandalised. Sometimes they misunderstand church teaching. They need to know that they are missed and that the door is open for them.

Catholic colleges and universities

Catholic colleges and universities believe unequivocally that it is an honour to be Catholic, and need to be demonstrably evangelical. The people who are often proudest to be part of Catholic education are in fact non-Catholics: Protestants, non-Christians, and even atheists.

Catholic social teaching

Catholic social teaching is an essential consequence of the Gospel, which means we must be involved in the public square - as Catholics. With enough prayer, sacrifice, advocacy, common sense, and sheer grace, Wall Street might cease being a casino; and likewise, civic leaders, public unions, and bondholders might be able to find agreement in the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression. Continue reading

The church held a hui in Porirua on Sunday and plans another in the South Island next weekend to discuss issues such as it having fewer clergy, less money and earthquake-prone buildings that need repair.

Archbishop John Dew says some of 47 parishes in the Wellington diocese are quite small and he would like each one to consider how they can best serve the needs of the church and the parish in the future.

Source: Radio NZ

Nicholas Coppola has presented a petition signed by 18,000 people to Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Center diocese.

The diocese released a statement saying it "respects those who may have signed a petition" but that it cannot change Church teaching and expects others to respect that position.

Continue reading

There is also quite a bit of maintenance on the churches, the damp climate is quite challenging. Not one to be afraid of heights, Michael was using a cherry-picker to paint the roof of the Haast church and at the end of the job, the owner asked him if the parish would like to buy it.

"A new one costs about $20,000 and this one's in good order. We bought it for $3,000 and it's already living in a garage in Whataroa. It'll repay its purchase price many times over", said Michael.

Since returning from Brazil Michael Mahoney has been pastorally active throughout the South Westland region and has been instrumental in establishing the "South Westland Hope Group" which tries to help families who live on the Coast who have difficulty in coping with modern life

The South Westland Hope Group has, for example helped,

• families who have unregistered cars to get them up to standard
• drivers who have no licence, or whose licence has lapsed, to get a licence
• support young people in the schools who cannot go on a school event for monetary reasons
• arrange automatic payments from monthly benefits into the parish account to pay power bills that would otherwise not be paid and result in the power being cut off
• organize budget advice and planning so that there is money to pay rent, power and other basic facets of modern living.

To fund these outreaches the group caters for lunches for tourist groups who make an offering of $15 a head for a really good lunch, including local delicacies such as whitebait fritters and pavlova! People have donated into the fund.

The local Health Clinics and schools have all been circulated regarding this group, Michael Mahoney says, and know that they can call on us if they need to.

According to Michael Mahoney, the underlying motive is the gospel one of concern for the poor and those who find difficulty in coping with modern society and technology.

"The Church used to be a leader in social assistance, but, to my mind, is notably absent from the media radar these days - we only hear of the Salvation Army and Anglican social assistance groups", he said.

"Nothing much was heard of our church during the Christchurch earthquake assistance, even though the diocese did supply a lot of assistance.

"This is a small attempt to help the wider community, not just the Catholic one," said Mahoney.

Source

• Society of Mary