"Multicoloured’ parishes"” “

“Multicoloured” Catholic parishes in the popular quarters of Paris as places of “reconciliation and authentic communion through differences”; “witnesses of Christ” and “models of citizenship in the suburbs”: this is a possible scenario according to the Jesuit theologian ETIENNE GRIEU , provided that some conditions be met. We present some excerpts from his article in the April number of the contemporary culture review “Études”. UNITED IN A COMMON PROJECT? “In the parishes on the outskirts of Paris – notes Grieu – the congregations often present vivid colours: they include immigrant families from the Antilles, Africa, Vietnam, Portugal, India and Sri-Lanka” and a high percentage of young people. If such a presence is “enduring, it would involve important changes for the Catholic Church in France”, widening “its sociological base to the popular classes”. In such a perspective, argues Grieu, the ecclesial community “could make a contribution to the social and political challenge” of integration. “Can the Church become one of the institutions in the country in which cultural diversities may go beyond mere co-existence and be “united in a common project”?: that’s the question posed by the Jesuit. And if this were to happen, “would the graft be destined to put down roots” or would we have to witness “in the short or medium term” “a progressive desertion of immigrants by the Church herself?”. Grieu does not conceal the fact that “the obstacles to real integration within the ecclesial community are numerous”. URGENCY AND RADICAL DEMANDS OF THE FAITH. “Here the celebration of Mass is sad”, say Africans in general; Asians, for their part, do not feel quite at their ease with the more ‘fraternal’ than ‘paternal’ figure of the priest”. “If they don’t feel fully accepted – warns Grieu -, traditional forms of religious practice tend to seek refuge in the private sphere, thus risking being no longer evangelized”. And he continues: “These Christians” could “challenge our somewhat lacklustre way of celebrating the faith” and remind us of the “urgency and radical demands of the Christian mission”. “So “it’s up to the Catholic communities”, says Grieu, “to ask how they can honour this expectation”. “Through the welcome of newly arrived parishioners, the Church” poses to herself the question “how to interpret ‘living together’, the very fabric of the community” and, at the same time, “what new ecclesial impulse is made possible by their presence”. According to Grieu, “whenever a Church welcomes someone, it is called to “return to its own sources”. The Church, remarks the Jesuit, “lacks places open to the inhabitants of our cities, places that may permit genuine relations in which people can listen to each other, express their own concerns, support each other in moments of difficulty – so numerous for the newly arrived! -, instruct each other in the faith, pray, listen to the good news of the Gospel, welcome new members, devote attention to the forgotten, and participate in the life of the quarter”. And this, according to Grieu, “can only happen in ‘intermediate places’, at the level of apartment blocks or groups of houses, where Catholics of various origins can meet together for moments of conviviality and worship complementary to the celebration of the Eucharist on Sunday”. NEIGHBOURHOOD COMMUNITIES. From such a community life a twofold result can be hoped: “a communion founded on the sharing of the Word of God and a rooting in the local realities, within which the appeals of the Gospel may gradually be distinguished and heard”. Grieu says he is convinced that “on the basis of this type of initiative a multicultural Church may be born”, but “if they are to prove durable in time, these experiences need to be made permanent; they need to be institutionalised”. Referring to the experience of the diocese of Poitiers, Grieu calls for “the establishment of ‘neighbourhood communities'” combined with “the definition of responsibilities and ministries”. The Church “needs to promote one or more roles of ministers capable of animating and accompanying in the faith communities at this intermediate level; this is an urgent question for the future of the Catholic Church at the level of multiculturalism”. “Catholic parishes – this is the theologian’s conclusion – represent one of the rare places, on the outskirts of our cities, in which cultures can be fused together in a kind of crucible on a voluntary basis; they present an atmosphere of openness and freedom that is appreciated by the newly arrived”. “When they commit themselves to a process of genuine communion through diversities, Catholic parishes can offer, as a social group, a model of what citizenship in our suburbs could be like” but, at the same time, “they speak of a promised reconciliation, transcending all that may make us mistrustful of each other; and, in this sense, they are witnesses of the second coming of Christ”.