Our Church is not dead. Look at our catechetical programmes, 45 young people to be confirmed, 40 children receiving the Eucharist for the first time, adults joining the parish and exploring their faith in the RCIA programme, families bring their children to be baptised, loved ones asking for their sick, frail and dying to be prayed for, couples asking God to form a covenant with them in Holy Matrimony. Our Church is not dead. Our Church is here, and our Church is listening.
Synodality is about walking together, like Jesus and the men on the way to Emmaus.
Listening does not just mean knowing what is said and answering back. Listening is a skill that so few of us truly master in our lifetime, listening is about hearing compassionately.
by Brother Steven Lloyd SDB
As Pope Pope Francis opens the channels of communication, he also opens the ears of the Universal Church. Synodality is about walking together, like Jesus and the men on the way to Emmaus. When we walk together, there is a tendency to talk, we talk about the weather (a very British topic of conversation), the news, the latest trend on tiktok, coronavirus and how frustrating it is, the government and some even talk about the Church. How many of us, however, can truly say that when you get home from that long walk around Battersea Park have honestly listened? Listening does not just mean knowing what is said and answering back. Listening is a skill that so few of us truly master in our lifetime, listening is about hearing compassionately. When Jesus met the men on the road he did not share gossip or tell tales, he listened to the men, the men who really needed someone to hear them, the men who needed compassion. They needed someone not to challenge what they had gone through in the days that had passed, but to hear them. The Holy Father is inviting the Church to do exactly that.
Our Church has suffered over the years, the pandemic is only a small part of the suffering. However, our Church is not dying and it is most definitely not dead. All we need to do is look around this parish on a weekend, 7pm Saturday Mass, 9:30am Mass, 11:30am Mass all filling up again. Our Church is not dead. Look on the Altar, see 5-10 young people serving each week and those numbers are growing, young people proclaiming the scriptures, young people serving the community. Our Church is not dead. Look at our catechetical programmes, 45 young people to be confirmed, 40 children receiving the Eucharist for the first time, adults joining the parish and exploring their faith in the RCIA programme, families bring their children to be baptised, loved ones asking for their sick, frail and dying to be prayed for, couples asking God to form a covenant with them in Holy Matrimony. Our Church is not dead. Our Church is here, and our Church is listening.
Saturday 13th November 2021, as part of our Confirmation programme, we introduced the synodal path way to our young people and their parents. We ask the candidates two questions- what can you do for your Church? and what can your Church do for you? The first question they answered with relative ease, as many of them are already doing so much for our parish community. The second was of more interest, overwhelmingly our young people ask that the Church be open, that it is inclusive. Inclusivity is Christianity, ‘’therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the Glory of God’’ (Romans 15:7) ‘’a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another’’ (John 13:34) ‘’be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgive one another, as God in Christ forgave you’’ (Ephesians 4:32). Over these next few months as we discern the way forward for the Church and journey together as a parish on the synodal path, let us listen to and more importantly hear what our young people are saying. After all, they are the Church of today alongside us and are the Church of tomorrow, after we are gone.
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