Parish as a Sign and Agent of Harmony by Fr.Dr. Bijesh Philip
Written by Fr.Dr. Bijesh Philip Friday, 07 May 2010 10:19
After listening to the announcement about the general body of the parish, a Sunday school student asked her teacher: “ Aunty, will there be Sunday school next Sunday?, It's going to be a day of our uncles’ fight.” There are some who enjoy power politics in parishes, but they are insensitive to the damages they cause to the little ones in parishes. New generations who struggle to grow up in faith are adversely affected by the conflicts in the parishes and slowly many kids develop an aversion to the Church and also to God. Conflicts also cause to lose the identity of parishes as a sign and agent of peace and harmony.
Harmonious living of His children is God's concern. Even if all mankind are children of God, there are many who do not accept God as the source of everything and their loving father. But the Christians who claim to be the children of God have a responsibility to prove their claim and dedication by their initiative for peacemaking and unity. Thus each parish needs to be a light and symbol of unity and peace. Can the Christians foil the divine plan for peace by their selfish agendas? The answer is that the so called Christians can reject the Divine offer of peace and fail themselves. This freedom and ‘victory’ is like that of Judas.
Every crisis in the life of an individual believer as well the parish is an opportunity to glorify God’s name. Crisis or conflicts can occur at any time. But the whole community needs to be watchful to take initiative to sort out the issues as early as possible. When the kids see how the adults solve the issue in a Christian way, their faith will be strengthened. Thus as through acts of compassion and evangelization, through peacemaking also God’s name will be glorified.
Conflicts and disputes found in many places - in family, parish, church, nation, or global community - have some common roots. Miscommunication or prejudice, injustices and egoism are some root causes of almost all conflicts.
As St. Paul says love rejoices in truth(I Cor.13:6). An earnest effort to know truth and follow it is essential for peace making. Accepting truth is painful sometimes, but it can heal and restore the broken relationships.
Fear is a ruling force in all conflicting situations. Only when the opposing groups humble themselves to know each other by overcoming prejudices that fear will slowly flee from them. Otherwise evil forces will try to fish in the muddled waters of fear based on misunderstanding. Extremists’ tendency is to highlight the opponent as devilish and to intimidate those who are in their fellowship. This fear psychosis stimulates hate and inspires the attacking tendency in each one. In fact Christians are supposed to enjoy freedom in Christ with regard to fear because love dispels fear. “ ..Love casts out fear. He who fears is not made perfect in love” (I John4: 18)
The imaginary wall created in human minds serve like the
Punitive justice focuses on punishment to the evil doers whereas restorative justice leads to measures to rectify the damages caused to the victims. Injustices cause and widen the conflicts. Truth and reconciliation commissions (TRC) chaired by Bishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa is an example of restorative justice for peace. TRC prepared a ground for the victims to express their sufferings as victims of apartheid publicly through media and the perpetrators of evil to admit their evil doings and also to take initiative to repair the damages. Finally government was also responsible to repair the damages to the victims. In short restoration of justice is essential to have peace. Peace and justice embrace each other. Otherwise there should be unconditional forgiveness. It must be noted that all major canons, constitution and disciplines of the Church are intended to ensure an atmosphere of justice in all parishes and also in the church in general. Thus the ultimate aim of constitution and by- laws and traditions of the church are not meant to be legalistic and to alienate so called ‘others’ but to create an atmosphere of justice and peace in the church where we can follow Christ more meaningfully.
However Christ is inviting us for a higher spirituality of forgiving those who do not deserve forgiveness and take sacrifices for the sake of peace and reconciliation. Christ says, “ love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father” who is even merciful to the sinners(Mathew 5:44). By understanding this unique challenge of gospels and having a long experience of peacemaking Desmond Tutu opines that there is ‘No Future Without Forgiveness’ which serves as a prophetic title to one of his classic works on harmony making. Unwillingness to forgive means to permit the evildoers to continue to control and to be victorious. Forgiveness is victory over evil.
Edging God Out (EGO), individuals and groups become self centered and alienate others. God realization and awareness of human transience in history can help us to humble ourselves and develop fellowship with others. Christ’s teaching as a whole is a challenge to overcome self centeredness, and foster fellowship and community life. Lord’s Prayer reminds us everyday to shift the focus from self to God: primary goal is the glorification of God’s name and not self glorification.
The Son of God emptied Himself to become a human being, and also to set an example for all. Based on this St. Paul requests his followers to imbibe this spirit of humility and respect to fellow believers: “fulfill my joy by being likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in humility let each esteem other better than themselves.” (Philippians 2: 2-4) Each parish needs to listen to this exhortation to ensure perfect fellowship among parishioners.
By living alone in Antarctica or Arctic, one cannot love Christ. To love Christ is to follow His teachings. Christ’s core teachings of love and forgiveness can be practiced only in relation to fellow human beings. Conflicts and provocations in the parish life can be counted as opportunities to test the ability to forgive, love, to be humble and to reinforce justice
Church being the body of Christ is closely connected to Him who is its head. Parish, the local unit of the church, as the body of Christ, is supposed to manifest Christ in that locality. In a body, ear is not hearing for itself but for the whole body. Similarly each member in a parish must be concerned about the common good of the well being of whole parish. Perfect co-coordinators and co relations of all organs in a body is essential for the well being of the body. In spite of the diverse talents, ages and financial situations, there should be a healthy relationship of all the parishioners which can manifest Church, the body of our Lord, to the world. The definition of church by St. Ignatius of Antioch is also noteworthy here: “the Church is a choir to sing Christ.”
Focus on commonalities is also necessary to restore peace and unity. Common source of life, common heritage, identity, common challenges, etc can draw our attention to a common space for fellowship and harmony.
Without an initiative for making peace, the claim that we love peace is false and baseless. In Christ’s words, “Blessed are the peace makers, for they shall be called children of God” (Matthew 5: 9). Unwillingness to sacrifice anything for peace means to support conflicts and divisions. This is related to a question whether we are really children of God or not?
Not only in the first century, today also Christ laments over the turning of his churches into a den of thieves. Those who are not able to love are either liars or sick. As St. John puts it beautifully, "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also." (I John 4:20-21). The challenge before all parish members, priests and bishops is to turn those parishes which are partially a house of hypocrisy and partially a community of the followers of Christ into a model community, a church truly founded on Christ.
Can the faithful in our parishes and people around us experience the joy of fellowship and unity in our parishes? If so, the parishes serve as signs and instruments of the kingdom of God on earth which is essential for faith formation of our parishioners, especially the children.