VATICAN CITY (CNS) ─ The more pastors empower their
parishioners to share responsibility for the mission of the church, the more
they will learn to set their ministry free "from the things that wear us
down," Pope Francis wrote.
"We will never become a synodal and missionary Church unless parish
communities are distinguished by the sharing of all the baptized in the one
mission of proclaiming the Gospel," the pope wrote in a letter to the more
than 200 parish priests from around the world who met April 29-May 2 to give
their input to the Synod of Bishops on synodality.
"If parishes are not synodal and missionary, neither will the Church be," the pope wrote.
Pope Francis' letter, which opened by thanking parish priests for their generous service, was released by the Vatican after the pope and the pastors had a closed-door meeting at the Vatican.
The stronger the sense of shared responsibility in a parish, the pope said, the more priests can concentrate on the "authentic core" of their ministry: "the proclamation of God's word and the gathering of the community for the breaking of bread."
Pope Francis had three suggestions for the priests on how they should promote a more synodal and missionary church, starting from their parishes.
One specific gift of priesthood, he wrote, is the ability to identify and foster the gifts the Holy Spirit gives to the laypeople in their parishes, which are meant to benefit the entire community and its outreach.
By fostering those gifts, he said, "you will bring to light many hidden treasures and feel less alone in the demanding task of evangelization."
And, he said, "you will experience the joy of being true fathers, who do not dominate others but rather bring out in them, men and women alike, great and precious possibilities."
Second, Pope Francis urged the priests to become adept at "the art of communal discernment," especially by using the method of "conversation in the Spirit" like was used at the October assembly of the Synod of Bishops. The method involves alternating periods of prayer, listening to each participant without interruption and then highlighting key or common points before beginning a discussion.
The third thing the pope asked of the priests was that they "base everything you do in a spirit of sharing and fraternity among yourselves and with your bishops."
"We cannot be authentic fathers unless we are first sons and brothers," he said. "And we cannot foster communion and participation in the communities entrusted to our care unless, before all else, we live out those realities among ourselves."
"I am quite aware that, amid the constant call of our pastoral responsibilities, this commitment may seem burdensome, even a waste of time, but the opposite is true," the pope wrote. "Indeed, only in this way will we be credible and our activity not end up scattering what others have already gathered."
Pope Francis said the need for sharing and support among priests and with their bishops "emerged forcefully" at an international conference on priestly formation held at the Vatican in February, and it also was mentioned repeatedly in the small group reports of the pastors during their reflections at a retreat center outside of Rome in the three days before their meeting with the pope.
The pastors, who were chosen by their bishops' conferences or Eastern Catholic bishops' synod to participate in the meeting, should return home as "missionaries of synodality," the pope said, and they should "encourage reflection, with a synodal and missionary mindset, on the renewal of the ministry of parish priests."
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