Small Christian Communities - direction of the future of the Church

എന്തു പേരിട്ടു വിളിച്ചാലും ക്രിസ്തീയ ജീവിതത്തിൻറെ വളർന്നുവരുന്ന പുതിയ രൂപം അടിസ്ഥാന ക്രൈസ്തവ സമൂഹങ്ങളുടേതാണ്, ചെറിയ ക്രിസ്തീയ സമൂഹങ്ങളുടേതാണ്.  

Small Christian Communities, by whatever name given them, are the growing form of Christian life today and the future direction of the Church. Tomorrow, March 21-22, Fr. Joe Healey will give an online presentation entitled "Pastoral Responses to the Worldwide Eucharistic Famine." To register, go now to https://www.futurechurch.org/teleconference-with-fr-joseph-healey-mm . In some regions of the world, they are called Base Christian Communities (CEBs) and in other parts, Intentional Eucharistic Communities (IECs). 

From the perspective of many theologians today, the priesthood of the Faithful needs to be underscored and promoted among Christians. Jesus never intended for his Church to become a religion as such. Rather, he offered a simple commandment of loving God most often expressed through loving our neighbor. It is a new humanism given not to one culture but to all of humankind guiding us to a highly ethical way of life shown less in abiding by established laws and more in how we care for one another. The ultimate goal of Christianity is to bring the whole of humankind into a kind of fraternal unity.

In the early Church, there was no distinction between clergy and laity. This emerged and developed over centuries. We need to return to sharing in Christ's unique priesthood: the ordained ministry is there to keep the unity in faith and serve as collaborators to the bishops, while the common priesthood of the Faithful is there to spread the Gospel message and live as Christ in today's world. If understood in this way, according to the French theologian, Fr. Joseph Moingt, the problem is not of ordaining women or not, of allowing priests to marry or not, but of foreseeing a new way of living together within the Church."

Jesus introduced the Eucharist as a simple meal to be shared among his friends. He never intended it to be a highly ritualistic ceremony that could only be celebrated in the presence of an ordained minister. There is room within the structure of the Church for both the parish model and for small Christian communities. But as we witness more and more parishes closing and fewer people called to the ordained ministry of priesthood, in our capacity as baptized people, Christians could well be celebrating the Eucharist among ourselves in small communities.

By joining or beginning a Small Christian Community, we could indirectly change the structure of the universal church. No one with power ever willingly gives it up. But a reform movement can find grounds for moving beyond Christianity as a religious institution and toward the humanness of the Gospel message: love of God and love of neighbor. We may not be able to change the clericalism of the hierarchy, but we could, by our teaching and example, educate the Faithful to better understand their own call to priesthood and, as a follower of Jesus, to live as Christ in the world today.

If you would be interested in exploring this opportunity, join Fr. Healey online as Future Church offers this workshop. These are the corresponding times for this meeting:

Add to Calendar

Location	Local Time	Time Zone	UTC Offset
San Francisco (USA - California)	Tuesday, March 21, 2018 at 5:00:00 pm	PDT	UTC-7 hours
New York (USA - New York)	Tuesday, March 21, 2018 at 8:00:00 pm	EDT	UTC-4 hours
Nairobi (Kenya)	Wednesday, March 22, 2018 at 3:00:00 am	EAT	UTC+3 hours
Mumbai (India - Maharashtra)	Wednesday, March 22, 2018 at 5:30:00 am	IST	UTC+5:30 hours
Paris (France - Île-de-France)	Wednesday, March 22, 2018 at 1:00:00 am	CET	UTC+1 hour
Auckland (New Zealand - Auckland)	Wednesday, March 22, 2018 at 1:00:00 pm	NZDT	UTC+13 hours
Sydney (Australia - New South Wales)	Wednesday, March 22, 2018 at 11:00:00 am	AEDT	UTC+11 hours
Mexico City (Mexico - Ciudad de México)	Tuesday, March 21, 2018 at 6:00:00 pm	CST	UTC-6 hours
Karachi (Pakistan - Sindh)	Wednesday, March 22, 2018 at 5:00:00 am	PKT	UTC+5 hours
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil - Rio de Janeiro)	Tuesday, March 21, 2018 at 9:00:00 pm	BRT	UTC-3 hours
Corresponding UTC (GMT)	Wednesday, March 22, 2018 at 00:00:00

To learn more about joining or beginning a Small Christian Community, we invite you to go towww.ThePeopleSpeakOut.org.  We welcome your participation in Fr. Healey's presentation and in helping create the movement of more small gatherings of Christians in home settings.

Rene Reid

CCRI Director