Faith-sharing groups on the Beatitudes are building communities, helping parishes discover needs, refine their mission
Jonathan Pund thought people in his “Parishes as Communities of the Beatitudes” faith-sharing group might hold back somewhat because the bishop was participating with them.
The Holy Spirit turned those concerns on their head.
“I knew almost all the people, but I didn’t necessarily know them well enough to expect that we would all just jump in and have fruitful discussions from the very beginning,” said Mr. Pund, a member of Cathedral of St. Joseph Parish in Jefferson City.
“But that’s exactly what happened,” he said. “It was really great to see how the Holy Spirit moved in all of us, and we were able to speak to one another very freely.”
“Parishes as Communities of the Beatitudes” is a four-part, small-group faith-sharing resource. Its purpose is to help Catholics throughout this diocese discern in a prayerful and supportive setting, ways for their parishes to cooperate more effectively with neighboring parishes in promoting stewardship, co-responsibility among the clergy and laity, and parishes being universally recognized as centers of charity and sanctuaries of mercy.
Resources in English and Spanish can be found online at diojeffcity.org/soft-pacotb.
The Beatitudes, an integral part of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, include a litany of blessings: Blessed are the poor in spirit ... those who mourn ... those who are meek ... those who hunger and thirst for righteousness ... those who are merciful ... those who are clean of heart ... the peacemakers ... those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness ... and those who endure insults falsely because of Jesus.
Bishop W. Shawn McKnight made the Beatitudes the basis for the diocese’s new, three-year pastoral plan and the concurrent pastoral plans for the diocese’s five geographical groupings of parishes, known as deaneries.
Parishes are being encouraged to use them as the basis for a renewal of their pastoral planning.
The bishop promulgated the new deanery pastoral plans this past spring in a pastoral letter titled, “Shaping Our Future Together: Parishes On Mission Together as Communities of the Beatitudes.”
He’s now encouraging members of parishes throughout the diocese to take part in “Parishes as Communities of the Beatitudes” faith-sharing groups in order to help discover more and better ways to serve God and others — especially those who are “in the throes of the Beatitudes” — more effectively, in accord with their deanery and parish pastoral plans.
People in many parishes hosted “Parishes as Communities of the Beatitudes” groups during Advent, and more are planning to do so during this upcoming Lent.
Bishop McKnight stated in a Dec. 30 letter to priests that as parishes continue maturing in their understanding of Catholic Stewardship, more laypeople will take an active, vested interest in helping shape the faith life of their communities.
“This activity increases their engagement in all aspects of parish life, including acts of charity and mercy, sacramental practices, and, yes, tithing,” he wrote.
Participating in a “Parishes as Communities of the Beatitudes” faith-sharing group with fellow Cathedral of St. Joseph parishioners helped convince him of the need for every parish to incorporate ongoing pastoral planning into regular activities.
“Pastoral planning is a discernment process, not a single event, by which the communities of the Church continually listen to and respond to the call of the Holy Spirit,” he stated.
Bishop McKnight has asked every parish to update or create a pastoral plan by no later than June 1, 2025, and, just as importantly, to determine how the plan is incorporated into regular parish activities.
“Parishes as Communities of the Beatitudes” is an effective way of engaging parishioners in that pastoral planning process.
Relevant questions
Colleen Abbott, president of the Diocesan Pastoral Council (DPC), has led several “Parishes as Communities of the Beatitudes” faith-sharing groups in her home parish, Our Lady of Snows in Mary’s Home.
“What I loved about it from the first time I saw it was that it asks questions of all people of a parish, whether you’re in leadership or not, of your experiences,” said Ms. Abbott, who’s also a Southwest Deanery representative to the DPC.
“Framing it with the Beatitudes was a beautiful way to put it together,” she stated. “You’re learning about how Jesus is striving to teach us these incredible things, and thinking about how it works concretely in a parish.”
As a member of a small, rural parish, she attested to how her fellow parishioners would do anything to help each other in times of need.
“But, are we strategic about it?” she asked. “Are we really serving all the people? Those are questions that came up in the small groups I was a part of.”
The discussions came forth in a very Spirit-led, organic manner.
“It’s us saying, ‘How can we be there for people who need us to be there for each other?’” she said.
“Too often, our goal is to be the best parish for those who belong,” she stated. “But also how do we serve the people who do not belong, and calling them in? We had some great discussion around that with this study.”
Among the concerns Ms. Abbott heard in her groups were: finding ways to minister better to young people, women, people who have recently had a loved one die, people experiencing difficulty after divorce, and people who no longer take part in the life of the Church.
These and other ideas will be discussed in greater detail at her parish’s next town-hall meeting, which will help lay the groundwork for updating the parish’s pastoral plan.
Part of that plan will include ways to collaborate with neighboring parishes in order to minister to more people who making the best use of limited resources.
Various perspectives
Mr. Pund is a representative of the See City Deanery to the Diocesan Pastoral Council.
He said what surprised him the most about his experience with a faith-sharing group was how easily all the participants were able to dive into the spiritual aspects of the Beatitudes and then start asking questions about how to become everything a parish is supposed to be.
“I honestly found a lot of edification in just being able to have the opportunity to talk through the Beatitudes,” he said.
He contemplated what his parish would be like three to five years from now if the pastoral planning process continues to bear fruit.
“I would see our parish becoming more well known in the community, not just amongst those who are regularly attending Mass, but among all of the members of the community as a place to go when they need help, when they need mercy, when they need charity,” he said.
For those planning to organize a “Parishes as Communities of the Beatitudes” faith-sharing group, he suggested inviting people of different ages, vocations, life stages and experiences to take part in each group.
“In our group, those different perspectives really helped us be able to see — from different worldviews and from different lived experiences — what needs there are in the parish,” he said. “Things I never thought of or experienced as a need myself, someone else might offer that.”
He urged everyone who will take part in one of the faith-sharing groups to dream big and think beyond current constraints, imagining what their parish could be like under the most ideal circumstances.
He also encouraged parishes to be creative about drawing people into the planning process who might not otherwise take part, such as residents of nursing homes, people who are homebound or those who otherwise feel isolated from the parish.
“Unity and friendship”
Ms. Abbott said the experience of praying, sharing, talking and listening in a structured small-group environment helps make that group, and by extension the whole parish, stronger.
“Something different happens when you invest in those small groups and engage in each other’s lives,” she noted. “It really does unite you in a different way than if you only come here for Mass and say hello to each other while you’re here.”
She hopes the kinds of discussions brought forth by “Parishes as Communities of the Beatitudes” will become an integral part of life in every parish.
“We’re obliged to be obedient to what the Holy Spirit is calling us to do,” she said.
“Even though the basis for what we do, for what we teach, doesn’t change, the method sometimes needs to change, and what people are looking for and ways they find it do change,” she stated.
“We’re often putting out fires and don’t always have time to work on vision,” she continued. “This is a way to help people more fully explore their faith and what it means to truly be a parish.
And as we get more people involved with studies like this, things will begin to take shape,” said Ms. Abbott. “You can’t be part of these things without asking ‘how can we fix this?’ It’s not just ‘what can the parish do for me?’ It’s, ‘what part am I playing it?’”
Bishop McKnight said “Parishes as Communities of the Beatitudes” can help parishes foster a culture of discernment in the spirit of synodality.
Pope Francis addressed the need for such a shift in mindset in his opening address to the concluding Synod on Synodality last October, saying:
“In such a complex time as ours, new cultural and pastoral challenges emerge that call for a warm and kindly inner attitude so that we can encounter each other without fear. In synodal dialogue, in this beautiful ‘journey in the Holy Spirit’ that we are making together as the People of God, we can grow in unity and friendship with the Lord in order to look at today’s challenges with his gaze; to become, using a fine expression of St. Paul VI, a church that ‘makes itself a conversation’” (Encyclical Letter Ecclesiam suam, 65).
“It seems this experience — of listening to the Holy Spirit speaking through the people in my own community — is what Pope Francis means when he says we are called to be synodal,” the bishop stated.
