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Beyond the Parochial: Parish Realities and a Synodal Church

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Martin Pendergast
Martin Pendergast*
Affiliation:
St. Joseph's Pastoral Council, 57 Lyme Grove, London E9 6PX
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

This article is a personal reflection on the twelve-year experience of being a parish without a resident priest. The article offers a socio-historical picture of St. Joseph's Parish, Bunhill Row, London EC1. It considers how some Church documents refer to ‘parish’, including the Code of Canon Law; the 1980 National Pastoral Congress; and Pope Francis’ vision of ‘parish’ in ‘The Joy of the Gospel’ and some other addresses. It concludes with some personal reflections.

Keywords

ParishCollaborative MinistryCo-ResponsibilityClericalismPastoral Council
Type
Original Article
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 100 , Issue 1086 , March 2019 , pp. 184 - 195
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

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References

1 Adapted from http://taking-stock.org.uk/Home/Dioceses/Archdiocese-of-Westminster/Bunhill-Row-St-Joseph.

2 http://www.bunhillquakers.org/.

3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_London_Tech_City.

4 https://www.wesleyschapel.org.uk/about-us/introduction/.

5 https://www.etymonline.com/word/parish.

6 The Code of Canon Law, Collins, London 1983, Chapter VI, pp. 492-552.

7 Ibid, p. 97.

8 Catechism of the Catholic Church, Geoffrey Chapman, London 1994, p. 471.

9 Flannery, Austin OP ed., Vatican II: The Church Constitution, Scepter Books, Dublin 1966Google Scholar.

10 Winter, Michael, Mission or Maintenance - a study in new pastoral structures, Darton Longman & Todd, London 1973Google Scholar; Mission Resumed?, Darton Longman & Todd, London 1979Google Scholar; Recovering Catholicism – an overdue review of the Catholic Church, Morgan House Publications 2014Google Scholar.

11 Congar, Yves OP, True and False Reform in the Church, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville 2011Google Scholar; Rahner, Karl SJ, The Shape of the Church to Come, SPCK, London 1974Google Scholar; Boff, Leonardo, Church: Charism & Power – Liberation Theology and the Institutional Church, SCM Press, London 1981Google Scholar.

12 Liverpool 1980 - Official Report of the National Pastoral Congress, St. Paul Publications 1981, p. 130Google Scholar.

13 op.cit.

14 Although not published until after the delivery of this paper, the Apostolic Constitution, Episcopalis Communio (15 September 2018), has the aim of more directly involving the People of God in the synodal experience of the Church: https://www.acalltoaction.org.uk/news/639-episcopalis-communio-machine-translation-of-the-italian-no-english-text.

15 http://www.citizensuk.org/north_london.

16 https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/business/tenders-and-procurement/Documents/final-external-living-wage-policy-statement.pdf.

17 https://cruxnow.com/commentary/2016/08/21/realize-popes-vision-comes-parish/.

18 http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/october/documents/papa-francesco_20151017_50-anniversario-sinodo.html; https://zenit.org/articles/text-of-popes-letter-to-pontifical-commission-for-latin-america/.

19 Rush, Ormond, Inverting the Pyramid: The Sensus Fidelium in a Synodal Church, Theological Studies, Vol. 78, Issue 2, 2017Google Scholar.

20 Theresa Noble, 5 Tips for Parishes from Pope Francis, http://www.ignitumtoday.com/tag/welcoming/.

21 https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-to-youth-shake-things-up-bring-church-to-the-streets; Pope Francis, Letter to the People of God, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2018/documents/papa-francesco_20180820_lettera-popolo-didio.html, 20 August 2018.