Detroit — It’s the most visible sign of the Universal Church — the neighborhood parish.

In cities and towns, big and small, the Catholic parish is meant to be a “missionary outpost” for evangelization.

For this reason, so much of Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron’s pastoral letter, Unleash the Gospel, focuses on making parishes vibrant, welcoming places of faith.

That’s why Archbishop Vigneron called upon the Office of Evangelization, Office of Catechesis and Office of Christian Worship to develop the tools, resources and training necessary to make the region’s churches “parishes of encounter.”

But what, exactly, is a parish of encounter?

“A parish of encounter focuses on the needs of parishioners and the needs of people in the surrounding area,” said Sr. Kathleen Matz, CDP, associate director of the Office of Catechesis in the Archdiocese of Detroit.

“The whole encounter is to be one of hospitality, welcoming, proclaiming Jesus Christ,” Sr. Matz continued, quoting Pope Francis’ encyclical Joy of the Gospel. “Proclaiming Christ means showing that to believe in and to follow Him is not only something right and true, but also something beautiful, capable of filing life with new splendor and joy.”

To make this proclamation of splendor and joy, Sr. Matz said it’s important for parishes be intentionally welcoming and create a “Sunday experience” that makes people want to come to church.

“A parish of encounter is one where people know each other,” Sr. Matz said. “It could be as simple as instead of saying ‘welcome’ to those around you, ask each other a question. Ask what’s special for them this week. When that happens, the whole room bursts into conversation.”
Sr. Matz said a parish of encounter creates churchgoing experiences that get people to come back the next week.

“As a parish, we can work on docility to the Spirit, apostolic boldness, cooperation with one another, adherence to God, and an attitude of gratitude,” Sr. Matz said. “If we do that, many people will want to come back to the parish.”
To create this atmosphere, the Office of Evangelization is encouraging parishes to form intercessory prayer teams, relying on the Holy Spirit to guide the parish’s evangelization efforts.

“At the parish level, you have to pray together,” said Nick Jorgenson, coordinator for evangelization for the Northwest Region of the Archdiocese of Detroit. “Pastors and their leadership teams need to pray together. Doesn’t matter if it’s one or two people together, they need to come together in prayer, modeling the Gospel and the Upper Room, modeling what the archbishop asked for in the Year of Prayer, asking for guidance.”

Dan McAfee, director of the Office of Christian Worship, added the entire movement of Unleash the Gospel must be rooted in prayer, which is why the Office of Evangelization and the Office of Christian Worship have developed a workshop for parishes on developing such teams on Saturday, Sept. 16 at Sacred Heart Major Seminary.

“Everything our offices have been doing, really since the Changing Lives Together campaign and especially since the synod, is encouraging parishes to develop prayer and intercession teams,” McAfee said.

Parishes notice a difference once they form such teams, McAfee said, noting how the Holy Spirit guides the pastor and his staff to make changes, which might not have happened otherwise.

“Intercession isn’t just asking for things, but listening to the Spirit in discernment, letting the Spirit dictate which direction the parish should go,” McAfee said. “Since parishes have been doing this, we’ve seen some good progress, especially since the Amazing Parish Conference, where parishes really go out of their way to create that ‘encounter’ environment.”

Fr. Jeff Day, the recently appointed deputy moderator of the curia for the archdiocese, detailed how the Holy Spirit’s intercession can change the culture of a parish during the Convocation of Lay Ecclesial Ministers on Aug. 31 at Sacred Heart Major Seminary.

Fr. Day reported how his former parish, St. Fabian in Farmington Hills, had five Masses a weekend, causing him to feel overwhelmed.

“Then the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, ‘Change the Mass schedule, dummy,’” Fr. Day said. “So I told the parish, ‘I consulted the Holy Spirit, and I think we should change the Mass schedule, I think this will help.’ And you know what, everyone was calm. Nobody tried to kill me,” Fr. Day joked.

“I thought, ‘Wow,’ for a pastor, changing the Mass times is the ‘third rail’ of parish ministries,” Fr. Day said. “If we can change Mass times, we can change a lot.”

Fr. Day reported the parish started serving food at the end of every Mass — even the Saturday evening Mass — and having parish staff work on Sundays to be available after Masses.

These changes created a whole new atmosphere at the parish, Fr. Day said, because the parishioners bought into the Holy Spirit’s influence in order to transform the parish from “maintenance focused” to “mission focused.”

“All of a sudden, it was life-changing,” Fr. Day said. “The parish was life-changing. We had less Mass times, but more people overall coming to Mass. We had people signing up for vibrant ministries. It wasn’t just me and the music minister up there on Sundays anymore. It can be done, if we listen to the Holy Spirit.”