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2
The immediate inspiration for this resource is found in Pope Francis’s
repeated calls to move our church, parish, and ministry strategies from a
mindset of
maintenance
to
mission
. In the words of the Holy Father:
I hope that all communities will devote the necessary effort to
advancing along the path of a pastoral and missionary conversion
which cannot leave things as they presently are. “Mere adminis-
tration” can no longer be enough. Throughout the world, let us be
“permanently in a state of mission.”
2
This missionary vision cannot be accomplished without shared effort by
the whole church community. As Pope Francis told us during his apostolic
journey to the United States in 2015, “[O]ur challenge today is . . . to
foster a sense of collaboration and shared responsibility in planning for the
future of our parishes and institutions.”
3
Shared discernment and planning,
rooted in prayer, marks the beginning of a fruitful effort at evangeliza-
tion. It also requires time, energy, knowledge, skills, careful planning, and
implementation—all with the Lord’s grace, of course!
The focus must be outward directed, not on the parish as it is, but
on how the parish or faith community can better and more fruitfully lead,
minister, and engage people in the call to witness and discipleship. In his
Apostolic Exhortation
Evangelii Gaudium
, Pope Francis speaks of the need
to move beyond an internal or self-directed focus:
Even if many are now involved in lay ministries, this involvement is
not reflected in a greater penetration of Christian values in the social,
political and economic sectors. It often remains tied to tasks within
the Church, without a real commitment to applying the Gospel to
the transformation of society. The formation of the laity and the
evangelization of professional and intellectual life represent a signifi-
cant pastoral challenge.
4
One way to ensure that our parishes are true communities of evange-
lization, focused on preparing Christians for discipleship, is for the whole
parish to undertake a process of discernment to evaluate current pastoral
ministry and outreach programs. What Pope Francis says about dioceses
can also be applied to parishes; namely, that “to make this missionary
impulse ever more focused, generous and fruitful, I encourage each particu-