Wokół Instrukcji „Nawrócenie duszpasterskie wspólnoty parafialnej w służbie misji ewangelizacyjnej Kościoła”

Abstract

On 20th July 2020 Congregation for the Clergy issued an instruction The pastoral conversion of the Parish community in the service of the evangelising mission of the Church. This document brings together the previous teachings of the Magisterium regarding the Parish community, approaching them from the perspective of the Pope Francis’s teaching calling for pastoral conversion of the whole Church, which should result in the missionary attitude of bringing the message of Gospel to all the people. Issuing of the instruction evoked different responses. Some of them were positive, praising the presenting of the integrated knowledge regarding the legal basis of the Parrish community functioning, as well as speaking highly of this document in the context of mapping out a wide range of the contemporary circumstances in which the parishes function. Also, providing the inspiration for the renewal of the Parish Ministry was appreciated. However, some criticisms were also raised, regarding the lack of new solutions aiming at involving the lay faithful in the life of the Parish community, putting too little emphasis on the necessity of the personal parishes development and the offer of the detailed pastoral methods. The author describes the main ideas included in this document, which has not reached a wider readership in Poland. At the same time, he (1), presents the discussion that the issuing of the instruction has evoked (2), referring to the document itself and suggesting some inspiration for creative searching for the ways of reaching the renewal of the Parish community in the context of the Pastoral conversion (3).