This is part three of the article Pastoral Orientations for Parish Renewal and Growth, which discusses principles that characterize missionary parishes. In this part we present principles seven to nine. 7. Serving the Community’s Needs Proclaiming the Good News means showing God’s love in word and deed (proclaiming the Gospel
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This is part two of the article Pastoral Orientations for Parish Renewal and Growth, which discusses principles that characterize missionary parishes. In this part we present principles four to six. 4. Planning Parishes that are growing map out the steps they will take to achieve their vision and implement their
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In the parables about the sower and the seed, the wheat and the weeds, and the mustard seed which is sown and then becomes a large plant, Jesus spoke to us about the growth of his kingdom. On earth, God’s kingdom is his Church and its mission is to make
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Missionary parishes exists for the purpose of evangelization and have 4 main characteristics: A focus on love and service: By loving and serving their communities and surroundings with the hands of Christ, parishioners manifest the merciful heart of God and make their parish a light to the world and a
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Heavenly Father, I thank you for loving me. I thank you for sending your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, to the world to save and to set me free. I trust in your power and grace that sustain and restore me. Loving Father, touch me now with your healing hands,
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The Church has always been clear about the importance of evangelization. In the Great Commission, Jesus tells his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19) This commission was not just for the first disciples, but for all Christians. In order for the Church to fulfill its
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Don Pigi Perini is an Italian priest who had been prepared for the lack of pastoral effectiveness. During his studies at the seminary, the decline of the Church was theologized to the point of almost becoming a virtue: “One sows, the other reaps…”; “provided that Jesus Christ is proclaimed…”; “unless
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One of the challenges we may face when we want to evangelize is to realize that we know few non-Christian. Thus, it is necessary to start engaging with people who are not Catholics. Jesus asks us to go all over the world to make disciples (Matthew 28,19). For us, our
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As Christians, pleasing God should be our ultimate goal. In this sense, we should understand that our actions and the choices we make shape our lives and the lives of those around us. The day we meet Jesus, we will hope to have served him and loved him the way
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As defined by Church documents the mission of the Church is to evangelize, “that is she must proclaim the good news of salvation to all, generate new creatures in Christ through Baptism, and train them to live knowingly as children of God.” [1] The mission of the Church is to
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