26
28.âThe parish is not an outdated institution;
precisely because it possesses great flexibility, it
can assume quite different contours depending
on the openness and missionary creativity of the
pastor and the community. While certainly not
the only institution which evangelizes, if the par-
ish proves capable of self-renewal and constant
adaptivity, it continues to be âthe Church living in
the midst of the homes of her sons and daugh-
tersâ.
26
This presumes that it really is in contact
with the homes and the lives of its people, and
does not become a useless structure out of touch
with people or a self-absorbed group made up of
a chosen few. The parish is the presence of the
Church in a given territory, an environment for
hearing Godâs word, for growth in the Christian
life, for dialogue, proclamation, charitable out-
reach, worship and celebration.
27
In all its activi-
ties the parish encourages and trains its members
to be evangelizers.
28
It is a community of com-
munities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to
drink in the midst of their journey, and a centre
of constant missionary outreach. We must ad-
mit, though, that the call to review and renew our
parishes has not yet sufficed to bring them nearer
to people, to make them environments of living
communion and participation, and to make them
completely mission-oriented.
26
âJ
ohn
P
aul
II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation
Christifideles Laici
(30 September 1988), 26: AAS 81 (1989), 438.
27
âCf.
Propositio
26.
28
âCf.
Propositio
44.
