Abstract

The parish is a local community of the people of God which is vertically and horizontally united with Christ and which forms a community of faith, worcship and love. Participation in the life of the parish takes three forms: proclaiming the word of God (community of faith), liturgy (community of worship) and the witness of charity and ministry (community of love). All these spheres of parish life are interconnected and all contribute to the building of the parish! Ommunity. It is important for these various functions to be performed by as many parishioners as possible and in a collegia! manner that nourishes a sense of unity even though each participant preserves his individual role. Because the situation varies from parish to parish, it is impossible to follow a single model, but in all cases efforts should be made to implement the idea o the parish as a community of communities. The credibility of the parish depends not merely on the way in which it discharges its basie duties of instruction and worship but above all on a brotherly approach to the problems or human existence. Love is the confirmation of the authenticity of faith and worship in both individual people and the parish as a whole. The parish fully realizes itself if it is a true brotherly community, always ready to render self-sacrificing love as well as the ministry of the Word, the Sacraments and worship. Only a community filled with the spirit of love can eorrespond to the image of the Church that has emerged from Vatican II. The general teaching of the Churich as presented here lays down only the broadest lines for the functioning of the parish brotherly community and for participation in it. But the teaching of the Church in Poland, while based on the guidelines of the C-0uncil and sometimes merely reproducing them, contains more specific indications appropriate to the Polish situation. Our analysis has shown that there is still much to be done before the parish becomes a true community of love. Pariishe.s, es:pecially large ones, are often anooymous bodies t'hat do not make human contact any easier; yet such contact is an indispensable condition for the growth of the parish community of love. To remedy the situation it is necessary to modify the parish structures, the organization of pastoral work and perhaps even the strategy of the Church.