To be “authentically missionary” the parish today must avert the risk of being reduced to a “ghetto of devotees” or a “self service of religious needs”. So says Msgr. Walther Ruspi, head of the catechetical Office of the Italian Episcopal Conference, in the course of the national Meeting of the directors of the diocesan catechetical Offices, held in Rocca di Papa (Rome) from 10 to 13 June. There are 26,000 parishes in Italy. “The Pope said Msgr. Ruspi has repeatedly stressed the importance of the parish as also a ‘physical’ place in which to experience the faith: but what’s essential is not to reduce it to a kind of ‘self service’ of religious needs. Rather, it should be understood as a place of communion around the Eucharist which expresses a wider communion with the local Church (hence with the bishop) and is committed to spreading the Gospel in its territory. Otherwise, there is a danger of the parish being reduced to a ‘ghetto of devotees’ or to a series of small groups whose members have a good rapport between each other but have no contacts with what is happening around them”.
