Fr. Milan Toman, SVD, began with the question of why a parish needs change and renewal today. He recalled the words of Pope Francis from his letter to parish priests of 2 May 2024, according to which the Church will not become truly synodal and missionary unless the participation of all the baptized in the one mission of proclaiming the Gospel becomes a distinctive feature of parish communities. Synodality, therefore, cannot be limited to individual meetings or new organizational structures. It must be expressed in the very way parish life is lived.
An important starting point is the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. It emphasized the full, active and conscious participation of the faithful in the liturgical celebration – actuosa participatio. This participation, however, does not end with the liturgy. Baptism and the common priesthood of the faithful also entail shared responsibility for the life of the Church, the apostolate and an authentic witness of faith in everyday life.
In this context, the presentation also touched on the relationship between the ministerial and common priesthood. The ministerial priesthood is not separate from the People of God, but is given in service to them. The task of the shepherd is to lead, form and unite the community so that the gifts and vocations of all the baptized can flourish within it. The diversity of roles in the Church, therefore, should not lead to division, but to unity in Christ, who is the head of his mystical body.
A strong theme of the presentation was shared responsibility for evangelization. A parish should not be a place where one group acts while everyone else simply receives. The entire community is called to bring the Gospel into the world. In the spirit of the constitution Gaudium et spes, the People of God actively engage with the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of people today and seek ways to bring them the joyful message of the Gospel. Mission, therefore, is not merely one of the activities of a parish, but belongs to its very identity.
Fr. Toman also pointed to the need for parishes to become closer to people, places of living community, cooperation and mission. The renewal of a parish, therefore, should not be merely an organizational reform. Its aim is to create a community in which believers are not anonymous participants, but people who discover their place, their gifts and their shared responsibility for the common mission.
The life of a parish can also be understood through three interconnected dimensions: celebration, reconciliation and the effort to bring the family of God closer together. These dimensions are united by a common goal – to build a community that lives from Christ and is oriented towards evangelization.
The basic vision of a synodal parish therefore consists in moving from passivity to participation, from individualism to shared responsibility, from a purely administrative understanding to a living community, and from maintaining the status quo to mission. A synodal parish is a community in which the pastor leads while also creating space for the gifts of the faithful, all the baptized embrace their share of responsibility, and the whole of parish life is focused on a common mission – bringing the Gospel of Christ to people today.
