“The parish, as an evangelizing center must take up its role as community of communities, where Christians live and learn to become disciples and missionaries of Christ. The parishes are living cells of the Church and a privileged place in which the majority of the faithful have a concrete experience of Christ, which then leads them to reach out in helping their brethren.” Thus, the renewal of the parishes “calls for restructuring, so that they can become a network of communities and groups...so that their members may truly realize that they must become disciples and missionaries of Christ, together with the rest of today's world.” For the Bishops at this difficult time, “the parish is the one that must form men and women with dedication and determination, capable of transforming society and living out values for a more just and more united society.”In his homily at the opening Mass for the Assembly, Archbishop Domingo Diaz Martinez of Tulancingo, affirmed that “a parish is valuable, because of the virtues that are lived there; it is alive because the Eucharist is celebrated; it is great thanks to the dignity of its members; it is free because of the truth that is sought there; it is committed, for the defense of rights that takes place there; it is always missionary, because it is obedient to the Lord's command and is rich because of the exchange of goods that occurs there.”
Mexico City (Agenzia Fides) - “The 87th Plenary Assembly
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