The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster is convinced that small groups hold the key to parish renewal. This is the first article in a new Tablet series

THE French Dominican Fr Yves Congar, with his groundbreaking work on the laity, made a huge impression on me as a young priest in the late Fifties. In his book Lay People in the Church, Congar stressed the need for basic Christian communities. These, he said, allowed people to rediscover the Church. For many of his contemporaries, he explained, ?the Church?s machinery, sometimes the very institution, is a barrier obscuring her deep and living mystery, which they can find, or find again, only from below?. Through ?the living reality? of ?little church cells wherein the mystery is lived directly and with great simplicity?, it was possible to experience the Church as it most truly was, the hierarchically structured people of God ?to whose life all its members contribute and which is patterned by give and take and a pooling of resources?.

I believed Congar was right then; and nearly 50 years on, I still believe him to be right. He was touching on an important truth, which is that renewal in the Church has come about, time and time again in its history, in and through the inspiration of small communities ? monastic, evangelical, missionary, lay communities, communities of women ? all fired by the Holy Spirit. They have been enormously diverse, but all fit Congar?s description of ?basic Christian community?, and they all mirror, surely, that description of the earliest church community who ?devoted themselves to the apostles? teaching, and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers? (Acts 2: 42).

My first experience of the force of Congar?s observation came when I returned to England from Rome as a newly ordained priest, full of zeal and enthusiasm. For the first nine years of my priestly ministry (1957-66), I was the curate in two parishes in and near Portsmouth. In those years I experienced both a sense of frustration, and of discovery. I felt frustrated because I found that my enthusiastic approach to ministry had to be tempered to the reality of people?s lives in the parishes where I served. There was no quick way to bring people to greater commitment to the love of Christ and the mission of the Church. But this frustration was itself tempered by the discovery that the renewal and flourishing of faith in the parish for which I hankered was not going to come about by any words or initiatives of mine, but by the manner in which the Spirit of God became fruitful in people?s lives.

Towards the end of my period in the first parish, a group of people invited me to join their monthly meetings. They met together in different houses to pray, to read a passage of the Gospel and to reflect on the circumstances of their daily lives. It was my first lesson in the value of a basic Christian community.

In my next parish I helped to form 10 of these basic communities and, before long, out of a parish of 1,000 or so practising Catholics, about 200 people were meeting regularly. It was in these faith clusters, or communities, that a whole mix of people ? married, unmarried, young and old ? discovered a new and deeper experience of faith through prayer, Scripture, community and service to others. Those communities brought something new to the parish, which became, in a very real and tangible way, ?a living parish?.

I believe that small Christian communities are a source of great hope in the Church today, and that their contribution to renewal in the Church is increasingly recognised. The Synod of Bishops held in Rome in 1987 noted ?with great satisfaction that the parish is becoming a dynamic community of communities, a centre where movements, basic ecclesial communities and other apostolic groups energise it and are in turn nourished?. Pope John Paul, in his letter on the new millennium, Novo Millennio Ineunte, emphasises the theme of communion and the promotion of ?forms of association, whether of the more traditional kind or the newer ecclesial movements which continue to give the Church a vitality that is God?s gift and a true springtime of the Spirit?.

The influence of the Church on our culture is most tangibly felt through the actual witness of the people of God. The authenticity and effectiveness of that witness is in turn dependent, at least in part, on our continuing to grow and mature as people of deep spirituality and holiness. Within smaller groups, where a greater degree of trust and confidence can be built up, people are encouraged and inspired to go further and deeper on their journey of faith than they might otherwise. People begin to discover, and then to share more openly, their relationship with God, with each other, with the whole of creation. Out of these kinds of reflection a greater conviction of the importance of putting faith into action can develop. Justice and peace issues take on added urgency and significance. So too can a desire to become more closely involved in the liturgy, in youth work, in catechetics and in other aspects of the pastoral, spiritual and social life of the Church. Also important in our own time is the sense of belonging and being accepted, and the radical change that occurs in people?s lives when they begin to lay their own life down alongside the Scriptures.

For the vast majority of Catholics, the parish is the place where we come together to celebrate in Word and sacrament what it means to be members of the Church. The parish community, the parish liturgy, and in particular the Sunday Eucharist are the visible signs of our communion with the rest of the Church and with each other. This communion is not limited by time or place; the Eucharist unites us with the Church past, present and to come, because as Vatican II notes (Lumen Gentium 11), it is ?the source and summit of the Christian life?.

So, of course, renewing our Church will mean renewing our parishes. And, as Congar points out, so much of that renewal ? spiritual, liturgical, pastoral ? must flow from the communities which form and meet in the parishes.

There will be some people who look beyond the parish for spiritual nourishment, and there is no reason at all to discourage this. But it is the parish that should see itself as a primary focus for renewal, with every encouragement being given to a whole variety of small communities which might grow up and become embedded in its life. Of course, these small communities should always be in communion with the bishop. We are the people of God; so we need each other to grow. The more we can develop our spirituality together in community, the more fruitful will be the results. ?Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them?, said Jesus (Mt 18:20).

Small communities are not only an integral part of the communion which is the Church. They are also an important spur to renewing the mission of the Church. ?Evangelise or die?, says St Paul (1 Cor. 9:16). Perhaps today we are coming to understand with greater clarity that all baptised Christians are called to this responsibility of evangelisation. Evangelisation begins with each person accepting the Word of God. In accepting that Word more fully, individually and as a community, we become more committed to Christ and to his will for us in our lives.

These are the reasons why basic parish communities are at the heart of the programme for parish renewal which I have initiated in the diocese of Westminster. There are many aspects to this process, but at its core is the formation of small Christian communities, enabling parishioners to reflect in a personal way on the Word of God, on their faith, and on their call to holiness and discipleship of Jesus in their daily life. This will not come about easily; it demands commitment and courage. But I have great hope. If we are generous in response to the Lord?s invitation to ?launch out into the deep? (Lk 5:4), then he will provide a ?catch? beyond our wildest imaginings.

I have witnessed the effectiveness of small communities in my life as priest and bishop, and I do not doubt their effectiveness for renewal. Our laity are indispensable missionaries of the Church and it is only through their full understanding of God?s call to each of them that the Church can truly engage with and influence the world around us. I seem to remember that John Henry Newman said, ?In all times the laity have been the measure of the Catholic spirit?. Come to think of it, was it not he who heralded the dawn of a Second Spring?

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