The Third Millennium Parish
A Transfiguration of Theology
The excellent and thought provoking article of Fr. Laurence Freeman OSB, of June 2002 on “Priests & People” (today “The Pastoral Review”), “The Contemplative Parish” is an interesting article which challenges some of the realities of Parishes and Parish Priests of today. His diagnosis of these realities of many of our Parishes and his comparisons with other realities he had encountered are very insightful. In short, the author wants to promote a “Contemplative Parish” …. Throughout history this idea had never before been put forward except for what Pope John Paul II recently said, prophetically, at the beginning of the third millennium (see below). This is, also, what Fr. Al. wanted for Queen of Peace Parish, Gainesville, FL. In fact, I was hired with this in mind: to have the School of Mary’s Formation at the heart of the Parish. Fr. Al. didn’t have a specific plan – this is obvious as this idea was previously unheard of. I was bringing to the table my experience and expertise in Spiritual Formation. Fr. Al. just said: I would like the School of Mary to be at the heart of the Parish. Thus, we knew we had to be creative. Fair enough. A real amazing adventure!
In his article, despite his efforts and from the School of Mary’s perspective, Fr. Freeman is not hugely clear about what this type of Parish should look like. Therefore, when Fr. Al. pointed out to me this incredible article of Fr. Laurence, and with Fr. Al’s project in mind, I instinctively thought that the road to take could be as follows. As we usually need Catechists in a parish for all the stages of catechesis, from zero to OCIA, that is, in the terms of Spiritual Theology, as illustrated by St. Teresa of Avila in her Interior Castle , from 0 to 3rd or maximum 5th Mansions, we can say that the equivalent is needed from second conversion, 4th Mansions to the end, namely, we need “mystagogues”, or Spiritual Formators, i.e. people qualified to give and support “spiritual formation”.
As an aside, let me just clarify that Catechesis is essentially based on the actual contents of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. However, for spiritual formation we do not have a single body of teaching. Hence my earnest desire is to write a book on Spiritual Formation.
While Fr. Freeman seems just to want to promote Contemplative Prayer and to allow it to permeate the Mass (one can watch online a pre-recorded Mass, which he leads). I think the real “contemplative parish” needs infinitely much more than that. For Fr Freeman, “contemplative” seems to mean essentially people starting to practise Contemplative Prayer (Prayer of the Heart). It is true that in his article he writes about the spiritual journey, but the implications are not clear as to how it shapes the parish in its spiritual dimension. He does not seem to have a developed thought as far as I can see and understand He does not have in mind the full journey of spiritual growth and what it requires in formation, tuition, support, body of doctrine…. Of course, he already has made a great stride forward in promoting Contemplative Prayer, and one has to give him full credit for that. But if one has the full picture of formation as we see it in the School, we will have a clearer vision that what is needed is infinitely much more.
Martha and Mary
In his article, Fr. Laurence presents one of his main intuitions and explanations of what is at stake in a Parish. To do so, he uses the example of Martha and Mary taken from the Gospel. Here is the passage taken from St. Luke’s Gospel:
“Now in their proceeding, He entered into a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha received Him into the home. And she had a sister called Mary, who also, having sat down at the feet of the Lord, was listening to His word. But Martha was distracted about much service; and having come up, she said, “Lord, is it not concerning to You that my sister has left me alone to serve? Therefore speak to her, that she might help me!” And the Lord answering said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; but one thing is necessary, only one; for Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
It is a very famous passage which was used throughout the twenty centuries of contemplative tradition as a defence of contemplatives, the monks. But here, Fr. Laurence will offer a slightly different application of this passage (bold print is mine):
“In his teaching at the house of Martha and Mary (Lk. 10:38-42) Jesus gives the first defence of the contemplative life in the Christian tradition against the oft-levelled charge that the solitary, silent contemplative is selfish and insensitive to the needs of the world. Jesus not only affirms Mary’s contemplative work but does so emphatically: ‘she has chosen the best part’. Yet he does not condemn Martha’s work, only her distractedness: ‘you are fussing and fretting about so many things.’ Then he adds, without defining what the thing is, that ‘only one thing is necessary’. Could we, then, say that the one thing necessary is to restore the friendship between the sisters in their household? Martha and Mary are not merely two personality types with different scores on the Enneagram. Certainly, human beings fall into different types, some being the extroverted, fixers and problem solvers of any organisation; others, too, the quieter types are content just to sit in a corner and listen. Jesus, however, is saying more than this. Martha and Mary represent the two sides of the human soul which need to be friends and to live in an integrated and wholesome way together in the house of the self.
They are the two sides of a parish as well. As with individuals, when a parish falls into an excessive activism and neglects the value of the contemplative it runs the same risk as Martha of collapsing into a rage and dysfunctional behavioiur. When Martha, at the beginning of the story, complains to Jesus about Mary and tells Him to go and tell Mary to give her a hand, she is not the only person in the gospel who gives Jesus orders. When Martha falls out of friendship with Mary the wholeness and peace of the self is lost and with it goes reverence for the presence of God.
A ‘contemplative parish’, then, means a local Christian community which has learned to integrate and balance the active and contemplative aspects of the gospel life. It does not mean turning the parish into a surrogate monastery. As my monastic community at Cockfosters in London also runs a suburban parish, I am well aware that a parish and a monastery are different things. At Christ the King we have a vibrant parish with regular parish and sacramental celebrations, a diverse range of parish-led ministries. There is also a spirituality centre offering a stimulating programme of events and training in spiritual direction, a meditation centre with introductory and ongoing groups, a guest house, the divine office sung in the parish/monastic church at the usual hours with a lay participation and, each morning and evening before the office, half-hour of silent meditation for monks, guests and parishioners. We can see how this could be done if we look at some different aspects of the parish. We can then imagine how the parish might progressively change in the next era of the Church’s history when the changes that have been long waiting to happen finally arrive.” (Fr. Laurence, see the full article here.)
The interesting thing is that on the surface, Bl. Marie Eugene would give his total seal of approval to this way of reading of the sacred text, i.e. the relationship between contemplation and action. I am saying this because one of his mottos is: “contemplation and action well united”. First let us notice that often in Spiritual Theology and in Spirituality, Mary and Martha are used as being synonymous of Contemplation and Action, and therefore they are seen not as two human beings but rather two functions or types of activities within one person as shown in the article. Is this way of seeing the human being in a differentiated way – being capable of contemplating and not neglecting to act, or vice-versa, being active but never neglecting contemplation – the main need and solution according to Fr. Laurence?
In spiritual life there are other dimensions which need to be taken into consideration and fulfilled. Spiritual growth is a fundamental one. Not that the author intends to neglect it, but it is not receiving the true attention it needs and it can slip the attention of the reader completely. In Spiritual Theology, on the journey of growth, the relationship between Martha and Mary being synonymous with contemplation and action, their growth, the type of interaction between them, go through different phases of development, all linked to spiritual transformation. The human being changes and develops, the connection with God in prayer develops and grows, and action in the human being is totally reformed, along the lines of the long journey of birth and blossoming of the New Man or New Creature in us. All this under the different phases of the action of the Holy Spirit in the human being, purifying, adorning, uniting, inflaming and uniting itself with the sinners.
As an example of the changes and transformation of the relationship between Mary and Martha one can study in St. Teresa of Avila on one hand her description of the relationship between Mary and Martha of the Prayer of Quiet (Way of Perfection chapter 31), and on the other what she says about them in chapter 4 of the Seventh Mansions of the Interior Castle. As a result, one can “measure” so to speak the spiritual development and change in the human being which occurs between these two phases, one at the beginning of the committed spiritual life after the second conversion, and the other after having reached Spiritual Marriage. If one studies in depth the differences one will find that there is no comparison at all between the two phases, even if, in appearance, but in appearance only, there is no difference: here as there it is about contemplation and action, i.e. Mary and Martha, being two activities in the human being.
So as a conclusion we can say:
1- One cannot reduce the problem and its solution just to foster a greater balance between Martha and Mary as two aspects of the human person (contemplation and action), or even just establish a relationship between them. What is at stake is much more complex and challenging, which leads us to the second point.
2- The growth and transformation dimension, the spiritual journey, have to be integrated in the evaluation. This will change the perspective totally, because one will have a journey to undergo and not just a balance to establish by fostering more contemplation.
In order to have a truly and fully Contemplative Parish Project, many important things need to be developed. We need the priests to be trained/formed for that level of depth, otherwise how can they manage Catechesis and Spiritual Formation? They would be seriously out of their depth for “Spiritual Formation” because the content of Theology a seminarian receives has a very poor Spiritual Theology aspect.
Testing the Project: Fr. Al’s project is “idealistic” as a project, in the sense that it has pre-requisites, things to be already in place before launching it. It requires a complete revision of what Theology is. We need a full body of doctrine about spiritual formation. Pope John Paul II talked once about such a Parish (see below Novo Millenio Ienunte) and hoped for it to become real for the third millennium – Fr. Laurence also talks about the third millennium in his article. With all due respect, because of the state of Theology then and now, I am not sure Pope John Paul was aware what such a project would entail. He wanted, in his letter about the third millennium, to have Holiness as the main project of the Parish. This was his proposal for the third millennium. He wanted the Church to reshape the pastoral plan and work of the Parish around holiness.
Or to express it in the words of John Paul II:
“30. First of all, I have no hesitation in saying that all pastoral initiatives must be set in relation to holiness. Was this not the ultimate meaning of the Jubilee indulgence, as a special grace offered by Christ so that the life of every baptized person could be purified and deeply renewed? It is my hope that, among those who have taken part in the Jubilee, many will have benefited from this grace, in full awareness of its demands. Once the Jubilee is over, we resume our normal path, but knowing that stressing holiness remains more than ever an urgent pastoral task. It is necessary therefore to rediscover the full practical significance of Chapter 5 of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, dedicated to the “universal call to holiness”. The Council Fathers laid such stress on this point, not just to embellish ecclesiology with a kind of spiritual veneer, but to make the call to holiness an intrinsic and essential aspect of their teaching on the Church. The rediscovery of the Church as “mystery”, or as a people “gathered together by the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”, was bound to bring with it a rediscovery of the Church’s “holiness”, understood in the basic sense of belonging to him who is in essence the Holy One, the “thrice Holy” (cf. Is 6:3). To profess the Church as holy means to point to her as the Bride of Christ, for whom he gave himself precisely in order to make her holy (cf. Eph 5:25-26). This as it were objective gift of holiness is offered to all the baptised. But the gift in turn becomes a task, which must shape the whole of Christian life: “This is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Th 4:3). It is a duty which concerns not only certain Christians: “All the Christian faithful, of whatever state or rank, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity”.
31. At first glance, it might seem almost impractical to recall this elementary truth as the foundation of the pastoral planning in which we are involved at the start of the new millennium. Can holiness ever be “planned”? What might the word “holiness” mean in the context of a pastoral plan? In fact, to place pastoral planning under the heading of holiness is a choice filled with consequences. It implies the conviction that, since Baptism is a true entry into the holiness of God through incorporation into Christ and the indwelling of his Spirit, it would be a contradiction to settle for a life of mediocrity, marked by a minimalist ethic and a shallow religiosity. To ask catechumens: “Do you wish to receive Baptism?” means at the same time to ask them: “Do you wish to become holy?” It means to set before them the radical nature of the Sermon on the Mount: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). As the Council itself explained, this ideal of perfection must not be misunderstood as if it involved some kind of extraordinary existence, possible only for a few “uncommon heroes” of holiness. The ways of holiness are many, according to the vocation of each individual. I thank the Lord that in these years he has enabled me to beatify and canonize a large number of Christians, and among them many lay people who attained holiness in the most ordinary circumstances of life.
The time has come to re-propose wholeheartedly to everyone this high standard of ordinary Christian living: the whole life of the Christian community and of Christian families must lead in this direction. It is also clear however that the paths to holiness are personal and call for a genuine “training in holiness”, adapted to people’s needs. This training must integrate the resources offered to everyone with both the traditional forms of individual and group assistance, as well as the more recent forms of support offered in associations and movements recognized by the Church.” (John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ienunte, 30-31)
His words are very audacious and visionary. I think that this is the plan to implement for the entire third millennium.
Yes, a fully available “Body of Doctrine” on Spiritual Formation is needed. Yes, “Training Spiritual Formators” then is truly key. One could not have such a vision without these two elements: the Doctrine and the Formator. As we have a Catechism of the Catholic Church, as a real foundational body of doctrine for Catechesis, we need a Body of Doctrine for Spiritual Formation. Also, just as we form Catechists, we need to form “Spiritual Formators” for this ministry.
It seems to me that the Priests will have to be formed and prepared differently. As said above, Theology (which is actually the basis of their formation) itself will have to be different, it will have to integrate the journey of growth and be Integral. This is really a colossal change.
It is important to be aware that the way we theologise, unconsciously determines and controls everything in the Church. Theology forms our way of thinking our faith. If shapes our vision, our goal and our pastoral plans. It also forms all of us: Priests, Religious, Nuns, Catechists, future Bishops, Cardinals and Popes. However, Theology today is very limited. It essentially deals with the Mansions from 0 to 3 (“mansions” alludes to St. Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle).
One can say: “Training formators then is truly key. You couldn’t have such a vision without this.” because one SEES and understands what is at stake. In the School of Mary much is learned about spiritual reality and the pastoral aspect of spiritual life (formation, tuition, spiritual direction, reading, studying, courses…). But “normal” people are using the only vision and understanding that today’s Theology gives them. Therefore, they cannot see. Even if they are very spiritual, they just guess, they have a remote intuition, resembling in part Hans Urs von Balthasar or Pope Benedict.
Theology needs to be transfigured. Theology is really our eyes, the way we see things and understand them and it shapes our acts, plans, and pastoral work for, “If the eyes are bad, the whole body will be full of darkness” (Mt. 6:23).
The School’s vision is truly monumental, and it may take many years (often I mention half-jokingly: 300 years) before it’s fully “seen” and Theology is transfigured, but what a gift to the Church that the School already sees this – and not only sees – but is able to offer something truly transformative and unique. To quote a senior member of the School: “We are praying that God opens the doors for the School to train formators/seminarians even starting at a diocesan level, because in that way there is a tangible model and experience/example that can be offered for the Church of the future. That in itself would be powerful. The fact that we have a Bishop onboard already in St. Augustine’s is a grace, so hopefully we can offer something at some point to begin with. Big project with lots of planning I know.”
Which Ecclesiology?
One has to admit that stating that the Parish is in charge of the entire spiritual journey means to change ecclesiology, to change our understanding of how the Church works. Fr. Laurence makes this normal statement: “I am well aware that a parish and a monastery are different things.” A more traditional form of ecclesiology may associate each of the three functions of Christ with different “branches” of the Church, namely, Christ is at once not only king, priest and prophet, but the Church is also made in the image of Christ. The Church is then King (queen) like Christ, Priest like Him and Prophet like Him. In this sense we can say that: The leaders of the Church are the Bishops united to the Pope. They fit well with the kingly dimension and function of the Church, while the Parish fits well with the Priestly function of the Church. Christ is also Prophet and this function fits very well with the consecrated who have heard the Lord’s Call to follow Him closely – all those who are on a quest for Union with God and the fullness of Love.
In this sense, and if we follow St. Anthony the Great’s journey, we find his Christian life starts in the Parish. He then receives Jesus’ Call, leaves his parish, and ventures into the depths of the desert. Fleeing the city, a place of sin, fleeing the World, and dying to the world, the monks felt the call to dedicate all their energy to God, to a new life of search for God in the Desert. In this sense an initial dichotomy was felt and lived: in order to follow Jesus’ Call, it was almost necessary to physically “die” to the world. We say “almost”, because there are stories of people living in the cities who were great saints. St. Antony the Great himself was shown a shoemaker who had something he did not have. This shoemaker would teach St. Antony a new depth in monastic life (see series of Anonymous n°..).
See an overview and illustration of this initial ecclesiology in the following drawing and in this article here.
We can use another drawing to illustrate this spiritual ecclesiology:
If one studies the history of monastic life, religious life and consecration, one notices that throughout the ages a process of discernment has been at work culminating in the realisation that fleeing to the desert need no longer be necessary. Monks started to own land to cultivate it, they drew closer to the outskirts of the city, then entered into the City. They entered Universities (Middle Ages), they were able to leave their enclosure and serve (Daughters of Charity) then with Charles de Foucauld they learned to live a normal life among people in order to be sanctified, until we reached the Secular Institutes where one is consecrated but lives an apparently normal life. This does not mean we forget the monastic brotherhoods in the middle of the city, not to mention the new movements in the Church which have many lay persons. We have come full circle in order to better understand the meaning of “consecration” and its possibility in normal everyday life.
In this sense, today, there is a mysterious new tendency to think that holiness can be reached in the Parish, without any necessity to move from one place to the other. As we can see below, however, the ecclesiology needs to be more refined. We move from “Parish” meaning exclusively the “Priestly function of the Church” and “Desert” meaning exclusively “Prophetic Function of the Church”, to a new ecclesiology where the Parish can include both Functions: the priestly one (Catechesis) and the prophetic one (Spiritual Formation). (please see drawing below)
In this sense the deeper stages of spiritual life become the heart of the Parish and the Parish itself has all the ingredients which can lead us to holiness, especially that of “spiritual formation”.
As mentioned above, this new format contains many challenges – the development of Theology, the development of Spiritual Theology, the transfiguration of the vocation to Priesthood (Parish Priest) and the Diaconate.
Jean Khoury
22 August 23
Our Lady Mother and Queen
Read Also
Reflections on the Deacon‘s Vocation
‘Solitude Before Serving’ in Priestly Formation
The Bishop, ‘Master of Perfection’
For articles on Spiritual Formation please see here.
For articles on The Spiritual Journey please see here.
For articles on the Call to Holiness please see here.