St. John the Baptist Church, Pilerne to organize to organise Parish Assembly
As a part of 365 years celebration, St. John the Baptist Church Pilerne will be conducting a Parish Assembly at Cruz dos Milagres, Old Goa. The theme for the Assembly is, ‘Follow me, to prepare the way for a synodal Journey’. As quoted by our Holy Father Pope Francis, “This journey, is both a gift and a task: by journeying together and reflecting together on the journey that has been made, the Church will be able to learn through Her experience which processes can help Her to live in communion, to achieve participation, to open Herself to mission. Our “journeying together” is, in fact, what most effectively enacts and manifests the nature of the Church as the pilgrim and missionary People of God”
The Parishioners have been in a preparation of the same for the last 3 months, preparation talks on Synodality, communion, etc were conducted by Fr. Leo Fernandes, Executive Secretary of the Pastoral Secretariat and Ms. Gail Misquita, Co-Convenor of the Main Coordinating Team for Pre-synodal meeting to instruct the parishioners of how to go about with the process of having a parish Assembly. It is the first time such a major event has been planned in the Archdiocese at a Parish Level and is in line with XVI ordinary General Assembly of the synod of Bishops 2023.
Thirteen themes have been chosen for discussion among the thirteen wards of the Parish, backed up by views from the various associations of the Parish. The themes have been meticulously chosen to understand the viewpoints of the laity on the critical aspects of the functioning of the Parish, which involve topics like Liturgy, Bible, catechism, Social work, Education, Ecology, family, Migrants, Inter-religious and Mission . The somudai members met at their respective chapel in the month of May to recite the Rosary and to discuss the questionnaire based on the themes.
The themes were presented in the form of a questionnaire, wherein the parishioners gave multiple views which were recorded and further categorised as ‘Experiences’, ‘Suggestions’ and Journey ahead. These suggestions coming right from the first level of the church, the laity, will help to understand how to journey ahead by living in communion, wholehearted participation and Christian mission. The Parish Assembly will be a 2-day programme on the 27th and 28th of May 2023, where the representatives from each ward will be assembling at Cruz de Milagres, Old Goa for a final discussion. Being the Pentecost Sunday, a positive and constructive outcome is expected from this Parish Assembly which will foster and inculcate the three main themes for the Synodal Journey: Communion, Participation and Mission.