|
|
| |
Manurewa Parish St Anne's parish Manurewa embodies significant migrant and multicultural needs. In working to help meet these needs, the Marist ministry team leads the people to meet Jesus Christ through being present in moments of cultural significance creating moments of learning, worship, and celebration. At one time it was said there were at least 26 cultural groups and languages represented in St Anne's Parish. Yet we realise that there are countless “cultures” in the parish and local area. These cultures are not only based on ethnicity but sometimes on worldviews. For example many parishioners at home may live in a traditional Samoan cultural context and yet during the day work in a post-modern corporate context. A person's cultural identity is continually being changed and modified by the many cultures around them. The purpose of our ministry is evangelical - the meeting of Jesus Christ. This purpose rests on the following assumptions: that a meeting occurs in the gathering of people, learning about the faith, and participating in the Church's worship that entering into a relationship with Jesus will begin to order, in justice, a person's other relationships. In the process of Gospel cultural conversion there are forces, which are benign, good, and evil, and sometimes it is simply necessary to ensure that St Anne's is a space where people can rest with Christ to be renewed before they re-enter the cultural flux. It is our hope that St Anne's is a community of justice where people are called to right order in their lives. We hope that St Anne's is a place where an honest attempt is made for people and cultures to receive their due and exists a situation whom we come into contact with get "a fair go". To build relationships that are strong, reciprocal, healthy, and fair means we have adopted some concrete strategies. Here are some of them: Working with the RPD unit in Australia so as to reflect on our pastoral behaviours and to assist in our pastoral planning. Placing the parish staff on clearly defined and accountable contracts. Working within and being accountable to parish committees. When necessary consulting the parish as a whole on new projects. Forming parish policies on sacraments and parish resources that are fair and transparent. Ensuring that cultures find a place to express themselves in the Church's worship and decision-making processes. Being transparent in the use and limits of our authority as priests and ministers. Encouraging others to take up their personal authority as Christians within their culture, family, and world. Having an academic discussion meeting once a month. As a community encouraging weekly community and pastoral meetings. Encouraging personal transparency and free and frank discussion. The community allocates funds and encourages the use of supervision and spiritual direction. Enacting these strategies is an organic process; many of them are the fruit of previous Marist teams, they take time to implement, demand continual reflection, and can exact an element of pain. It is our belief that Jesus Christ is the bearer of justice ensuring right order within a person and their cultural world/worlds. It is our desire first of all to subject ourselves to this process of Gospel conversion.
|
Contact Details
Phone: 09 266-5826 Fax: 09 267-3729 |
|
|