Neil Darragh discusses how a mission focus in our local Church community develops belonging and takes the gospel into our society.

The first Christians founded local communities beginning in Jerusalem and spreading through Asia Minor and beyond. In the New Testament, the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles tell us about some of these communities; and the Gospels themselves were produced in those early Christian communities.

Today we use the term “community” quite loosely in the Church — but usually in contrast to its more “institutional” structures. Communities of vowed religious have been the builders of the Church in Aotearoa New Zealand and small communities are nearly always sources of energy.

Many “sodalities”, usually run by laypeople though with clergy support, have always been part of the Catholic Church in New Zealand. The Society of St Vincent de Paul, the Legion of Mary and the Catholic Women’s League are three of the traditional sodalities that have survived through to the 21st century. Since the 1970s, ethnic communities such as the Samoan, Tongan and Tokelauan have been examples of strong, committed Christian community.

Today there are many newer communities with their own special devotions and mission recently arrived in New Zealand: Pax Christi, Catholic Charismatic Renewal, Beginning Experience, Communion of Peace, Dove Catholic Fellowship for Women, Joshua Catholic Men’s Fellowship, Lamb of God Catholic Fellowship, Marriage Encounter, Passionist Family Groups, Family Life International, Secular Institute of Christ the King, Logos Project, Divine Mercy groups, Devotees of Señor Santo Niño and many others.

Local Community

Among this variety of communities, the “local” community is the most traditional and the most foundational to the life of the Church as a whole. The implication of the term “local” is that the community’s common bond is a neighbourhood, a town, or a suburb. This is what a “parish” attempts to be. It is not founded on a special devotion or a special mission or a special charism.

Very important to its “local” character is that it does not exclude anyone on the basis of any of the other common marks of social identity such as race, language, gender, social class or migrancy. Nor is it focused on any special devotion or special spirituality or culture, though it will normally provide for and encourage any such smaller special communities of people within its boundaries. A further implication of this “local” identity is that it accepts a mission for the wellbeing of the whole locality including those who are not Christian.

Networks

Local communities are interconnected and crisscrossed by “networks”. These are multiple connections of people who do not belong to the same local community but who know one another, or know about one another, and “gossip the Gospel” between one community and another. These networks connect communities and challenge communities. They are lines of communication; and at every node in these networks is a person with rich personal and community experience.

In the New Testament, Paul’s letters give us many examples of such networks: people who travel between places, who write to one another, who tell stories about activities and events, who offer and seek hospitality from one another. Today these connections are much faster and richer than they were in Paul’s time because of our speed of travel and the nearly instant and effortless possibilities of electronic media.

These networks are not under the control of any individual person or any authority. I confess that when my feelings about being a member of the Church are lowest it is the networks of people that the larger Church opens to me which keeps me belonging.

Belonging to the Church puts me in contact with so many diverse, interesting, good-hearted, generous, thoughtful, provocative and active people. Many of these are people I meet only occasionally or whom I have never met but will probably meet in the near future or whom I can meet if I need to or want to, people with whom I will have almost instant rapport because we have common values, some common rituals, and probably some common frustrations.

Threats to Local Communities

Communities are important. Networks are important. But among these, the most under threat at the present time are “local” communities. There are four main threats that need our attention now.

Believing but Not Belonging

One threat is that feature of many contemporary societies which British sociologist Grace Davie calls “believing but not belonging”. In contemporary pluralist democracies, people may “believe” in Christianity (or any other religious or political ideal) but this need not be translated into “belonging” — into how they behave, who they meet up with, or where they go.

The effect of this is that belonging becomes rarer and local Christian communities reduce in size. An exception to this trend is migrants who often maintain their religious “belonging” in their new country. In any case, sociologists warn us, the next generation of Christians will have less contact with real Christian communities. They will then become more and more ignorant about what Christianity actually stands for. Their information will be limited to what they see or hear from sources such as social media. If the “belonging” is not there, the “believing” will soon diminish as well.

School and Parish Divide

Another threat is the divide between Catholic schools and the Catholic parishes. Many parents want their children in Catholic schools but, increasingly, neither they nor their children have any visible connection with a parish. Mass on Sunday is not part of the package of being “Catholic”. Schools can be regarded as communities in themselves, but for the students this is a transitional community. Much of what it stands for will be left behind once they have left the school for the freedom of adulthood. Parishes, on the other hand, seem unable to interest school leavers (and most of their parents) in the elderly routines of parish liturgies. Catholic schools are producing one kind of Catholic, parishes another.

Priest as Religious Delivery Service

The third threat is from priests who see their role as providing religious services to needy parishioners. The priest here becomes a deliverer of sacramental graces and pastoral care. This is scarcely a community, but rather a religious delivery service where parishioners become consumers of religious goodies. This particular style of priestly ministry suffocates rather than encourages the baptismal ministries of the community members and renders them passive. Eucharist on Sunday is a performance by the priest who says nearly everything and does nearly everything. Parishioners are expected to be there but have little say in what happens there.

Community’s Self-Focus

The fourth threat is the one that seems to me to be the most important of all. This is the self-focus that occupies the attention and energy of many parishes. A “self-focus” means that people are members of the Church primarily for themselves, their best hope for their own salvation or for coming closer to God.

All Christian parishes are compassionate, of course (care of the sick, help for the needy, food parcels), and they have programmes for receiving new members into the Church. But in some, the outreach goes no further than that.

Mission-focused churches, by contrast, see the purpose of their parish as acting in service of the larger reign of God in the world. This is God’s hope (the New Testament is all about this) that we all, not just church members, live in relationships of justice and peace with one another and in sustainable relationships with the Earth.

These threats are not inevitable. What happens in the future depends on our response. And this response depends not on our carrying on with “business as usual”, but on our deciding what the purpose of our local church is, on what we think the Church is for.

Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 238 June 2019: 6-7