Fr Tom Molloy a Hospital Chaplain...

Fr Tom Molloy holding the oil of the Sick and his prayer book.

A short account of my work as a chaplain at the Western and Victoria Hospitals in Edinburgh.

Where now for Parish Missions?

An article written for a Catholic newspaper (some time ago but still has resonance today)

Have you ever found yourself speaking a foreign language? I have. Recently I was speaking to a small group of Catholics, the conversation was in English but we were coming from very different perceptions of reality. I quickly learned that some on the parish council had never experienced a ‘Redemptorist parish mission’, while a couple of older members thought we had stopped conducting them all together. Of course parish missions have been the mainstay of parish renewal for many years in Britain. They have evolved with a changing church, yet people have widely differing views and expectations from them.

The recent calls for renewal, from John Paul II, among others are not a new phenomenon. Any group that engages in evangelisation is at the service of the church which is missionary by its very nature. I am aware that there are some new movements springing up and hopefully they will be co-ordinated by the development of an agency for evangelisation. I am sure that they will bring new energy and vigour to the life of the church. As a church in search of vision for evangelisation, I believe we should use all the gifts the Spirit gives us. That means investing in the new as well as continuing with the tried and tested ways of communicating God’s love.

The order I belong to was founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori to reach out to the poor and abandoned. Since then we have been creative in leading parish missions and retreats for over 270 years, gaining much experience and insight into the life of ordinary Catholics. Missions by their very nature have developed over the years, honed by the life of real people in real life situations. I am reminded of a comment made by Pope Paul VI about the Redemptorist work of parish missions. ‘The great joy you have is to be the witnessing church in people’s homes, in their kitchens and in their hearts’. This could also apply to all those engaged in this specialised ministry of parish renewal. This is where we begin to understand what church is, and what it can be. The building blocks of our church remain the parish communities, the people of God.

There is no doubt that parishes are in constant need of spiritual renewal. There are many different ways of achieving this. Some dioceses have been working on assemblies and pastoral plans. The new agency will encourage and support groups of committed Catholics to become evangelisers. Yet I truly believe that the ordinary parishioner needs to be supported in a more immediate way from time to time. A parish mission is about creating a space for God in the day-to-day life of a worshiping community. It is about being touched by the Word of God through a time of grace. This sort of experience should not and cannot involve targets, as it is simply immeasurable.

Fr. Paul Billington, formerly of CMS would describe the experience of a Parish mission as working on many levels. “An individual spiritual renewal, calling the community to be co-responsible for the life of the church, while inculcating in people a spirituality of mission in it’s widest sense”. As a Redemptorist also engaged in renewal, I am saddened at the decision to move what was CMS away from its fine tradition of parish missions. As I said earlier missions are not incompatible with other evangelisation strategies.

Missions have great strengths but I accept they also have weaknesses. In my experience as a Redemptorist, we have not yet devised a viable follow up strategy for parishes that we work with. Perhaps a mission then, could be seen as a launching pad for a pastoral plan. In setting up small groups to work on the parish mission liturgies, a parish may then have an indication of how these groups could work on evangelising projects at local church level.

The initiative for evangelisation cannot be imposed by a remote group or committee. It needs to come out of a desire for renewal at a local level. I believe that parish missions are a vital part of this renewal, speaking as they do, to the people in the pew in a language that they can understand.

If you feel your parish would benefit from a Redemptorist parish mission, contact us

Fr. Kieran J. Brady CSsR

International Spirituality and Renewal Centres

“Healing Places – the Redemptorists unique contribution to The Church in Britain”

St. Mary’s Kinnoull & Hawkstone Hall are our Retreat Centres. Click on the links to see the associated web-sites.

Father Jim McManus CSsR. works in our international Spirituality centre in Kinnoull, Perth, Scotland; this is how he describes our task:

"In our renewal centre we offer guests the opportunity to define themselves for themselves. Then we help them to reach the decision to live up to their own definition of themselves. We all run the risk of trying to live up to somebody else’s definition of us and thereby never discover our true selves.

The Vatican Council said that “we can only discover our true selves in sincere self-giving” (Church in Modern World 24)) To make this discovery we often need a lot of inner healing, interior discipline, personal growth and time with the Lord in prayer and silence.  The gospel word for this is Conversion. In our centres we accompany people on their journey of self-discovery through the experience of conversion."

Listen to what others say of our ministry at Hawkstone Hall:

"Hawkstone is a place of astonishing loveliness and grace. From a frenetic city theatre in China I moved to an English house and landscape that were crafted to calm you: at Hawkstone you learn to walk slowly, noticing God's grandeur. For me the highlights of the course were the lectures on the Gospels and the Hawkstone pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which re-introduced me to Jesus of Nazareth. For that I will be forever grateful."

Sister Clara Liu Qiao, an eye surgeon from China

"The course changed the direction of our married lives. We both decided to become lay missionaries, and we now work in Goa for AIDS patients"
Karl & Josephine - Singapore 

"The course was excellent because it helped me to face my demanding ministry as a diocesan priest in a new and confident way. The lecturing and the preaching were simply the best I have heard anywhere... After three months I feel renewed physically, spiritually, and psychologically. Truthfully I have rediscovered myself in a wholly affirming way."

Fr Cain Mkhwebane, a parish priest from South Africa

This article was written  in 2007 since when Fr. Terry has received the title Honorary Chaplain to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.

I began this ministry about seven years ago. I had been going to Lourdes on pilgrimage for many years, latterly involved with HCPT - The pilgrimage trust, as director of the pilgrimage. In all my visits to Lourdes over the years, I had never been to confession in Lourdes (though I do go to confession regularly!).

I volunteered my services to the sanctuary and was accepted. The ministry involves about four weeks at a time, consisting of about six hours of confessions a day. If possible we also have a rest day. People don't talk about "miracles" very often in this day and age, but there are hundreds of miracles of God's grace and love daily in the reconciliation chapel in Lourdes.

My years of preaching parish missions had prepared me for hearing confessions, but a week in Lourdes is a bit like a year's confessions on a mission. The picture of Rembrandt's "prodigal son" is in the confessionals and is a marvelous starting point to help people experience the unbelievable love and forgiveness of God. The experience of hearing confessions in Lourdes is a truly humbling and uplifting experience, knowing that the Prodigal Father uses me to bring his peace and love into people's lives.

Terry Creech C.Ss.R.