Renewal of Parish Life

Taken from CWNews

The parish should be understood as "a family of Christian families," the Pope said. He called attention to the description of the first Christian community in Jerusalem, in which the believers gathered to hear the apostles, to pray and celebrate the Eucharist, and to share with those in need. Today, he said, a parish can "relive this experience," especially if the parish is united in prayer.

The success of parish life, the Pope observed, will come not merely from "programs worked out at a theoretical level," but from intense and communal prayer. "Nourished by the Eucharistic bread," he said, the parish "grows in Catholic communion and walks in complete faithfulness to the magisterium." That same fraternal spirit, he added, would impel the members of the parish community to provide material assistance to those who need it.