Lesson 1 What is the Parish? (Some views)
We all form part of a parish and know in some way what it is. We would like here to deepen our knowledge so as to be able to serve it even better.
The term "parish" derives from the greek word paroika, which means "lives with". A person who lives with somebody is not a permanent resident, he is a stranger, one whose home is elsewhere.Abraham, an exile in Egypt, was a paroikos, a foreigner, one who was away from his own land.
Parish hence means "provisional residence", "temporary dwelling" and this term is very well applicable to the local Church: It is in fact for the Christian a transient community.
St. Paul already stated: "...here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come".
The word parish therefore reminds us that we are a community of pilgrims, who travel together towards the true homeland, Heaven, helping one another to get there. Somewhat like the Jewish people journeying towards the promised land.
Thus the term parish reminds us of "the holy journey", which for years we have been seeking to follow. Christifideles Laici so defines the parish: "It is the ultimate localisation of the Church, it is in a certain way the Church itself which lives in the midst of the homes of its sons and daughters". It is the Church which lives on location.
"The parish - continues the same document - is not principally a structure, a territory, a building, it is rather " the family of God, like a fraternity animated by the spirit of unity" it is "a family home, fraternal and welcoming"; it is "the home open to all and at the service of all, or , as Pope John XXIII loved to say, "the village fountain" to which all revolve to quench their thirst". Thus it is not a village or the church buildings, but a life which overflows, a spiritual abode to be built day by day.
This brings to mind the title that S. Augustine gave to the Church (and the parish is the Church in a local territory): the Church is charity, it is agape.
Paul VI said: "The parish is a social prodigy, a social beauty ; Here you are united by a network of spiritual relationships, here you love each other ... you are united by the bond of charity ... You must remember that this is the cement which makes of a population so varied, diverse and scattered, one heart and one soul".
