This Sunday we will celebrate the Opening of the Parish Year.  There is no feast on the liturgical calendar for this celebration.  It is a local custom that has become part of the life of our parishes over the last few years.  The Opening of the Parish Year gives us the opportunity to reflect on what exactly the parish of today is about.  It gives us the opportunity, also, to celebrate the many gifts in our parishes and the great commitment that so many parishioners bring to the various ministries and activities that make up parish life.

In terms of the question of what the parish is about today, I was struck by a recent interview with Czech Catholic theologian and priest Tomas Halik.  He was asked a question which I think is often on the lips of many Catholic Church-goers today.  “How can the Church be more relevant in our secularised societies?  Should it adapt to societal changes or be counter-cultural?”

Halik responded with the following statement: “The main mission of the Church is evangelisation, which consists of inculturation, an effort to infuse the spirit of the Gospel into the way people think and live today.  Without this, evangelisation is only superficial indoctrination.  The Church cannot and should not be part of the counter-culture, except in the face of repressive regimes such as Nazism, fascism and communism.”

In other words, the mission of the Church should be to enter more deeply into our culture.  Not to retreat from it.  We should be right there in the world of our young, the world of scientists, advertisers and marketers, movie makers, song writers, artists, parents, educators, health workers, engineers and economists.  As we enter into our culture we bring with us the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ rooted in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  We bring the Gospel of life, death and resurrection to all the situations of our lives and of our world.

If the main mission of the Church is to infuse the spirit of the Gospel into the way people think and live today, how can we do that?  Once again, the answer is to enter more deeply into our culture.  As Christians we should try to read and understand our culture.  We should be sympathetic to the culture of our times and try to see where the Spirit is moving and in what direction the Spirit might be pointing us.  It is easy to sit back and lament the lack of young people in our Church communities, the drop in Mass attendance, and the reduced influence of Church leaders in civil society.  It is much harder to try to understand our culture more fully and to reflect on that culture in light of the Gospel, and our faith.  We cannot infuse the Gospel into a culture of which we are not a part.  That does not mean that we are not critical thinkers or that we will critique our cultural environment.  Nor does it mean that we are uncritical and blindly accepting of all that our Church does and says.  The art of discernment and dialogue are key to the mission of evangelisation today.

The Church has taken on various forms and committed to diverse ministries and missions over the years.  We may be at a point in history where our mission is being directed elsewhere.  Pope Francis certainly keeps calling the Church and its dioceses and parishes to look outward, to go to the margins.  He believes that is where we are called and where we will bear fruit.

That is a challenge for a group of parishes with histories that span over one hundred years.  Yet, at the heart of the Gospel is a call to ‘leave all and follow me’.

So, as we celebrate the Opening of the Parish Year we do so with confidence in our faith and openness to where the Spirit may be leading us.  Join us at Our Holy Redeemer Church, Surrey Hills at 6.00 pm on Saturday, 18 February 2023.

By Fr Brendan Reed

The interview with Tomas Halik was in La Croix International.  Find out more about Tomas Halik