Pope Francis, in the Joy of the Gospel, gives a hope filled vision of the Church where the baptized are missionary disciples [50] and the parish is a “center of constant missionary outreach” [28]. Can you imagine the impact on the world if this were the case! If we allowed ourselves to dream that this could become a reality and if we directed all the activity of the Church to make this a reality, we first have to think differently about the role of the parish. Consider a mental image of a “Parish Without Walls”.
Certainly there needs to be the walls of the sanctuary, where the most important thing we do as Catholics takes place – the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Eucharist is, to be sure, “the source and summit of the Christian life” [CCC 1324]. That being said, are the other walls of the parish needed if we are to become a center of missionary outreach?
In the current paradigm, we assume there needs to be walls for community life and faith formation. But what if we were to drive community life and faith formation where people are – their homes, their neighborhoods, their schools, and their workplaces? What if the primary aim of the parish was to empower parents to take seriously the responsibility to build a domestic Church, where prayer and faith formation were taking place in the home. And, what if these same Catholic families took seriously the responsibility to share with their neighbors the source of their hope and joy, Jesus Christ! Furthermore, what if Catholic families considered their schools to be mission territories, reaching out to other families within their sphere of influence and sharing faith and life with them.
Sound like a pipe dream? Unrealistic thinking? Well, this is the vision the Church gives us for the role of the Catholic family. The Catechism teaches: “the role of parents in education is of such importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute” [CCC 2221] and “the Christian family has an evangelizing and missionary task” [CCC 2205].
The Catholic Church is the hope for the world! Considering a “Parish Without Walls” is more than a thoughtful exercise. Rather, it is about re-discovering the identity of the parish. Pope Paul VI makes it clear: “Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize” [EN 14]. FORMED is a tool that gives a parish the opportunity, like never before, to take the truth, beauty and wisdom of Catholicism outside the walls of the parish to where people are. May we be up to the task! The world is counting on us.
