José M. AlbaladThe parishes have been the 'field hospital' requested by the Pope".Renewed parishes: parish and vocationsThere was expectation, and the large attendance at the congress, held in the auditorium of the CEU Cardenal Herrera University and in the Major Seminary La Inmaculada de Moncada, confirmed the interest. Among the participants were Monsignor Armando Matteo, secretary of the doctrinal section of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and from Los Angeles (USA), William Simonfounder and president of Parish Catalyst and author of the best-selling pastoral book "Great Catholic Parishes: Four Pastoral Practices that Revitalize Them"..
The Archbishop of Valencia, Monsignor Enrique BenaventHe celebrated the Mass of Sending and presided over the closing ceremony, in which he pointed out that "for the majority of the baptized who have some concern to live their faith, the parish continues to be a fundamental reference", and "cannot be a "mere administrative structure, but a place of living the faith" and "a welcoming space", where the Church "shows its friendly face".
The congress had a special remembrance for the auxiliary bishop of Barcelona. Antoni Vadellwho died last year, and a member of the group of experts involved in the origins of the work.
In his conference on the 'Profile of the post-modern subject to be evangelized', Bishop Matteo said that "Peter Pan is the new adult that we have to evangelize". Today's society "imposes a worship of youth, the young body is the symbol of this new cult" and the Church should be aware that "a good practice is to welcome the modern adult subject".
The genesis of the congress was the presentation of the study 'Evangelizing Parishes', which for more than two years has been developed by the San Vicente Ferrer Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarra. Catholic University of ValenciaThe project "has contacted some 250 parishes throughout Spain, using applications and surveys to extract the best practices that make these communities a benchmark in the field of pastoral conversion," Santiago Pons told Omnes., Dean of the Faculty of Theology of the UCV.
"It's not a parish model."
In the context, as stated in the presentation of the study, of the "missionary and evangelizing transformation to which we are being invited by recent popes and, in a very direct way, by Pope Francis", and the fact that "the parish is a basic structure within the Church" [in Spain there are almost 23.000 parishes, according to the Episcopal Conference], Santiago Pons affirms that "we have not identified a parish model, but a set of good practices [57], which are made effective according to their needs and resources, but which gives them a family atmosphere".
Dean Santiago Pons had declared the need to "change the approach and the way we situate ourselves in the parishes. It is not a question of a makeover, but of a profound change in the culture of our parish communities. He now clarifies the idea in a conversation with Omnes, while alluding to the opinion of the Spanish bishops.
How did the idea of this first Congress of good practices in parishes come about?
-The genesis lies in making known the study 'Evangelizing Parishes' of the Faculty of Theology San Vicente Ferrer of the Catholic University of Valencia. In this work, some 250 parishes from all over Spain have been contacted.
You speak of the need for a "pastoral conversion", a "pastoral transformation". You even say that there is a need to "break the negativity". Can you explain this a little? Do you sense discouragement?
-Indeed, for some time now, priests and faithful have often been discouraged because the new initiatives being tried in parishes do not bring about real change.
Charitable services are maintained, since the needs continue to grow, but in general we are still in "maintenance" and/or "conservation" parishes. However, there are parishes in Spain that have begun a process of transformation and what has been done from the research project 'Evangelizing Parishes' is to contact them. We wanted to know about their experience, we wanted them to share what they do and the difficulties they have encountered. We wanted to tell everyone how they have innovated in the way they evangelize.
This was the reason for the study: to contact these parishes and be able to share their experience of success with all the others, so that it may serve as an impulse and help more and more parishes to initiate these processes of transformation.
Synthesize, if possible, any conclusions from the report entitled 'Evangelizing Parishes' presented at the congress. Do you note an approximate number of parishes that you call "renewed"? What differentiates them?
-They differ in many characteristics, since it is not possible to establish a single method. Each parish establishes its own model. We have found that there are parishes that share a culture, or a structure, and that are those that lead Pastoral Conversion, but that the way in which they incorporate it depends on their identity and their context. That is why we insist that we have not identified a model parish, but rather a set of best practices that are made effective according to their needs and resources, but that give them a family feel.
William E. Simon Jr. and Monsignor Armando Matteo, secretary of the doctrinal section of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, spoke at the congress.
-Yes, the Spanish translation of the work 'Convertir a Peter Pan' (Converting Peter Pan), by Armando Matteo, one of the international speakers at the Congress, was recently presented. This work deals with the postmodern individual whom the Church is called to evangelize. The translation of Matteo's book has been promoted by the Faculty of Theology of Valencia, as it did in 2018 with Wiliam Simon's work 'Great Catholic Parishes. Four pastoral practices that revitalize them'.
And it is true that these pastoral practices in the United States that Simon speaks of have been at the origin of the research that is now being presented on the reality of Spanish parishes. The Congress of Best Practices also had the good fortune of having a presentation by William E. Simon Jr.
Enrique Benavent, Archbishop of Valencia, will close the congress. How do the bishops perceive this initiative, in the context of the new evangelization to which Pope Francis is calling us?
-It is a very new process. Our bishops, in general, are aware of the problems they encounter in their dioceses, but perhaps they have not yet realized what kind of transformation we are called to have. Therefore, we hope that this Congress will help, a little, to awaken that concern for an in-depth transformation of culture and parish life.
Parishes "in an evangelizing key".
So much for the dean's words. A summary of the report is available at the end of this information. Evangelizing parisheswhich has been advised by the SM Foundation and the Institute for Educational Evaluation and Counseling (IDEA). From the interviews conducted, "about 60 practices that were being carried out by some of the parishes leading the Pastoral Conversion in Spain" were extracted.
"The work has developed a mapping in different Spanish parishes, 'attending to the criteria or dimensions of what could be relevant aspects to initiate a process and a change with a single horizon: to be a parish in an evangelizing key,'" says Yolanda Ruiz, one of the researchers of the study, director of the Open Scholas Occurrentes Chair at the UCV.
In addition to the dean Santiago Pons and Yolanda Ruiz, the work has been developed by professors Agustín Domingo and José Vidal; the parish priest and professor Vicente Tur; Teresa Valero, episcopal delegate of Evangelization of the diocese of Solsona; José Luis García, general coordinator of the project, and the data analyst Cristian Camus.
The congress was inaugurated by the auxiliary bishop emeritus of Valencia, Monsignor Javier Salinas, together with the rector of the Catholic University of Valencia San Vicente Mártir, José Manuel Pagán, and the dean of the Faculty of Theology, José Santiago Pons.
