Parish Life – Today

Abstract

The parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it possesses great flexibility, it can assume quite different contours depending on the openness and missionary creativity of the pastor and the community" (Evangelii gaudium 28). The words of Pope Francis give us an actual and imminent inspiration to explore the status of the being-in-parish and the being-a-parish experience of the catholic clergy and faithful. We try to identify the basic elements of the biblical understanding of παροικία, to analyze the current situation and develop some possible principles for the (re)forming of parochial existence, highlighting the main challenges of this ancient and till always newly thinkable and realizable institution.