Singapore parishes to be a "place of evangelisation and hospitality for everyone"
More than 400 representatives from the country’s 32 parishes met for a day to talk and bear witness. They discussed building the community of the faithful, promote evangelisation among young people, and encourage the involvement of the faithful in parish life. For the episcopal vicar for the New Evangelisation, a “Church that has so much hospitality in it will be a welcoming church”.
Singapore (AsiaNews/Catholic News) – About 400 representatives from 32 parishes across the archdiocese attended a day-long meeting organised by the Office for the New Evangelisation (ONE) at the St Joseph’s Institution International School, a Lasallian Catholic educational institute.
The event was held to teach parish leaders to create alive and active communities of faith. Participants focused on building a true communion among the faithful and among the various parishes of the Archdiocese, promoting evangelisation among the young, increasing the involvement of the faithful in parish life, and bearing witness to the faith.
Fr Terence Pereira, episcopal vicar for the New Evangelisation, noted that in a ONE conference last year, the archdiocese decided to focus on “communion” first because “we need to be one as Jesus prayed”. He also stressed the importance of hospitality in building communion.
“A Church that has so much hospitality in it will be a welcoming church that will draw people who do not want to leave,” he said. Otherwise, “At best people coexist,” said Fr Terence, noting that “at this level there is no real communion”.
In his address, Fr Valerian Cheong stressed the need for unity among parishioners, warning against envy. “Envy destroys community” and is “the absence of gratitude”, as indicated in Jesus’s parable about the vineyard workers.
Two parishioners from the Church of St Anthony shared their experiences of how hospitality helped to build community in their parish.
In his talk, Fr Cornelius Ching, also stressed the importance of hospitality in building communion. “Very often, when we talk about hospitality, we talk about what we can do,” he said. “Is our hospitality based on things that we do, or does it come from an outpouring of the heart?
After the joint session, participants broke up into three groups to discuss various issues.
In the first group, ‘How to engage the Youth and Young Adults’, Fr Terence stressed to participants the importance of recognising the gifts that children and youth have and of helping them to develop them.
Fr Jude David explained how it is necessary to reach out to young people where they are, and not wait for them to come to us.
The second group, ‘What Engages People?’, focused on how to help people less involved in parish activities so as to prevent them from drifting away from the faith.
The third group, a workshop on ‘The power of sharing your faith story’, was led by a team from the Institute for World Evangelisation (ICPE).
Speakers talked about the duty of every Christian to bear witness to his or her faith, which can only come if the person has an intimate relationship with Jesus.
During the conference, the local Church launched a campaign titled ‘Jesus4everyone’ to increase the missionary commitment of Catholics in Singapore.
The latter number more than 200,000 (about 4 per cent of the population). The archdiocese is divided into 32 parishes, with almost 200 priests.
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