Discussion-How to build a living church?

We bring you a shortened transcript of the most important and interesting things that were said during the debate.

When did you first realize in your life that the church is really a living community?

Martina Šipošová: I experienced it very intensely in the 1990s in my native parish Pezinok, especially in our youth community. Joint Holy Masses, adorations, spiritual renewals, service to children and young people were a wonderful time, from which many of us still draw today.

Jozef Vadkert:I grew up in a traditional village where faith was practiced in a uniform way for centuries. However, in the 1980s, I became involved with a youth community in Nové Zámky through a cousin, and after the fall of communism, I joined the Children’s Christian Communities Movement as an animator. As a university student, I met key figures such as the verbist Milan Bubák and the Jesuit Ladislav Csontos, who introduced me to spiritual renewals, ultimately revealing a new side of the church that I hadn’t known before.

Dušan Pardel: I grew up on Orava in the village of Liesek, and my family was a living church for me from the beginning. I also experienced the environment of the underground church, as my mother was going through the forbidden religious literature that the pastor Štefan Koma brought to her. Despite his age, he created an environment in which ministers, youth, and older active believers could get involved.

A common narrative outside the church suggests it is in decline, being mainly attended by older women, yet this contrasts with your positive experiences. What drives this perception?

Jozef Vadkerti: A big problem is wrong ideas about God. When we begin to prepare the Burmese to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, we must also devote several months to breaking these false images. They actually reject something they don’t even know, they reject God even before they really and truly meet him, which is often the result of wrongly experienced or imposed traditional forms of faith.

Whose responsibility is it? Parents? Priests? Catechists?

Jozef Vadkerti: Without judging anyone, it is true that I cannot give what I do not have. If I have not experienced a personal encounter with God, then, of course, I cannot convey it to others either.

My parents instilled in me a traditional faith, for which I am grateful. They laid the groundwork that allowed me to build upon it. Although I had to challenge and overcome misconceptions, this foundation remained intact. As I matured, however, I came to realize that community plays a vital role in fostering growth, providing a spiritual framework that goes beyond one’s initial upbringing.

Martina Šipošová:Cardinal Basil Hume described parishes as a sleeping giant, existing globally yet remaining largely unchanged by the Holy Spirit. Though dormant, no parish is lifeless, for Jesus Christ is present in each and the sacraments are celebrated there, awaiting the spark of transformation to awaken them.

Martina Šipošová: In the parish of Pezinok, there are more than two hundred believers involved in various forms of services, and our vision is for the Kingdom of God to reach every family in our city. Just by the fact that one of us brings a food package to a poorer family and with it love and a smile, he also brings God’s kingdom there. Without perhaps speaking directly about God.

But the same is true of those who feel that their calling is to kneel before the shrine and pray for others. Without directly entering their homes, they invoke God’s blessings upon them.

Dušan Pardel: Ružomberok parish is specific in that the whole town is one parish, which is quite rare nowadays. We have all types of church schools in one square – from kindergarten to university. There are six of us priests in the parish, each one of us is different, but together we try – if I use Martina’s words and play with the name of our town – to wake up the sleeping Sleeping Beauty.

Jozef Vadkerti: Podunajské Biskupice is a place that is ethnically mixed and where many new settlers also live. This is also why the pastorate there is very specific. However, our intention is to build one parish, one community, because Christ is also only one. But we have to overcome many obstacles, barriers and prejudices. It’s not easy, but it can be done. I would even say that it was the complexity of the situation that forced me to be innovative and look for new ways.

Father Jozef, you’ve already touched on my next question, but I’ll expand on it. Where do your parishes have room for growth, and what’s their weak point?

Dušan Pardel: I recently spent time at a lively parish in Madrid, which has a program for the spiritual guidance of young people that caught my attention. In Slovakia, we’ve combined spiritual guidance with reconciliation, but they’re not the same. Given the number of pupils and students in our parish, I’d like to strengthen spiritual guidance as a distinct dimension.

Martina Šipošová highlights the need for improved communication, citing internal disunity as a persistent issue. Jozef Vadkerti, meanwhile, identifies cultivating a culture of hospitality in parishes as a significant challenge. He encourages individuals to break out of their cliques after Mass and welcome newcomers, fostering new relationships and making everyone feel at home.

Jozef Vadkerti: In the church in Slovakia, we operate with a system of supply and demand. Since there is still a great demand for sacramental service in the parishes, we put almost all of our energy into administering the sacraments, and then we have no time left for the rest. This is what people want from us, so we give it to them, and since man is a lazy creature from his wounded nature, we have no motivation to invent something new.

Of course, I do not want to question the meaning of the sacraments, but the problem is that we have made them the only way of experiencing the spiritual life. In the spirit of the first church commandment, we have made participation in the Eucharist the absolute pinnacle, but we do not teach people how to climb to that pinnacle. We do not lead them to grow even through reading the Holy Scriptures, through adoration, charity, building fraternal relationships… At the same time, these activities help us in the ascent. Simply, we show them the top, but not the way.

It is also related to the fact that we live our faith too individualistically – I and God, and not we and God. We lack the relational dimension of sacramental life. Because if a person wants to grow in faith, he needs to grow in five areas at the same time: knowledge of God, glorification of God, community building, charity and preaching. However, we focus only on the first part and neglect the others.

Martina Šipošová: Right here, I see a lot of space for passionate lay people, who have access to places and situations that a priest cannot reach. In every parish live people who have a heart set on fire for Christ and want to pass it on, who have a missionary mentality. The Holy Father Francis also calls us to do this, to use the missionary key everywhere, to transform our parishes into missionary parishes. So that we are not afraid to reach out to others, invite them, involve them… Because who feels loved? One who is accepted.

Isn’t the reality often the opposite, though? Pope Francis warned of this in Evangelii Gaudium, cautioning that parishes should not become “dysfunctional structures” isolated from the people or elitist groups focused on themselves. Are some parishes devolving into exclusive clubs, and if so, how can we prevent it?

Dušan Pardel: The parish is a community of communities, everyone should be able to find their space there. Someone can be more active and find themselves in a kind of nucleus, someone else can proceed at a slower pace, but it is always true that we are always on the road together, never individually and no one is more than the other.

Another thing is when the community is not built on Christ, but only on the personal need not to be alone or on one’s own self-realization. Then it can gradually develop into some form of closure, when, for example, the priest no longer lives for the parish, but from the parish.

Someone could say – but Christ also chose the Twelve. Yes, he devoted himself to them more than the others, he formed them, but not so that they would stay together like this forever, but so that one day they would go out into the whole world, teach and baptize.

The concept of a “missionary parish” has been explored by Verbist Milan Toman in a recent Postoj newspaper interview, as well as in James Mallon’s book “The Transformation of the Parish” and a Vatican Congregation for Clergy instruction on the parish community’s evangelizing mission. How can this concept be applied, and can a missionary focus help revitalize stagnant parishes?

Jozef Vadkerti: A mission is a mission, and the basis of the mission is the knowledge that I have something to offer. It is true that every single person is a gift and can enrich the other person. But at the same time, each of us also needs to receive. So being in a mission does not only mean giving, but also being open to receiving.

We Christians should free ourselves from the mentality that only non-believers need us, because we also need them – otherwise we would not be giving Christ to anyone. Each one of us is dependent on the other, we must learn to accept this dependence. Can we humbly say “come, help me, you are important to me” and thereby acknowledge the value of the other person, admit that he is a gift to us?

Dušan Pardel: We used to understand the word mission as the proclamation of Christ somewhere in Africa or Asia. Today, however, the missions begin outside the walls of our house. How to do it, that is the eternal question. Devote yourself to small groups or generously sow and sow, although many seeds will fall even on barren soil? I think that neither of these strategies is bad, on the contrary, they complement each other.

I am fascinated by the idea of ​​Pope John XXIII, who said that the parish should be a well in the city or village from which everyone can drink. We should approach this ideal, in no case must we close ourselves off.

Martina Šipošová: Pope Francis invites each of us to be a missionary disciple, he invites us to daily conversion, which consists in a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. It is his spirit that awakens in us the desire to proclaim, as we can also see in Mary Magdalene, who, after meeting the risen Jesus, did not withdraw into herself, but ran to the apostles to announce it to them.

However, how to implement this announcement in everyday practice, so that it does not have an imposing, violent, annoying effect on our neighbors, colleagues, acquaintances and we do not achieve the exact opposite?

Jozef Vadkerti: Personally, I was very impressed by the method of parish evangelization cells, within which people are trained to be missionaries directly in the places where they live.

The first step is to realize what kind of people live around me and think about them. Are they baptized but not practicing? Are they seekers? Are they militant atheists? Or are they troubled, wounded persons?

Praying for others, specifically for their life situations, is the second step, allowing God to touch their hearts.

The third step involves engaging with them through acts of service, offering encouragement, and providing specific help when needed.

Only after establishing a natural human connection can personal testimony follow. This should be a genuine, relatable sharing of experiences, acknowledging common struggles and how one’s faith provides support, rather than portraying an overly simplistic conversion story. This approach allows for discreetly sharing the Gospel message and Christian values.

I find that genuine evangelization begins when someone shows interest in a topic and asks specific questions. At that point, I can share my faith directly and invite them to fellowship. From experience, I’ve seen this approach be effective, as people are often deeply hungry for God’s presence in their lives. Simply showing interest and giving them space can be incredibly impactful.

Dušan Pardel: I think that a very good recipe for proclaiming the Gospel was offered to us by St. Francis of Assisi, who sent out his brothers with the words: “Go and proclaim Christ. And if necessary, use words too.” Let us bear witness to Jesus especially with our life, our actions, and our concern for others.

For me, such an example is our churchman, who worked in education and discovered a vocation to the church after retirement. He is a true role model for me in his piety and unobtrusive service. He doesn’t say much, but his actions speak even more. For example, he goes to the homeless, whom he accompanies spiritually, he has already prepared several to receive the sacraments. He found his place where he serves and thus proclaims Jesus Christ with his deeds.

Father Milan Toman suggested that a functioning pastoral council is a key indicator of a thriving parish. How do our parishes measure up in this regard?

Dušan Pardel: Pastoral councils are very important because they represent a functional link between the pastor and other believers. That’s why I had it in my former parish and we also have it in the current one. Even in our Diocese of Spiš, there is also an all-diocesan pastoral council, which has 15 members from different areas.

Martina Šipošová: The pastoral council should help the priest create a vision for the parish and, subsequently, strategies for its fulfillment. Because even in the Holy Scriptures it is written that the people who do not have a vision perish. At the same time, the members of the pastoral council provide the priest with feedback from the faithful, thanks to which he knows what people live by and what their expectations are.

Jozef Vadkerti: I will only add that the creation of a parish vision, which should reflect God’s will for a given place, should take place within the pastoral council in a spirit of prayer and in an atmosphere of spiritual discernment.

I also consider it important that the pastor publicly delegates the persons responsible for individual areas in front of the entire community, so that no one can question them, but they are aware – to paraphrase the words of Jesus – that whoever listens to them, listens to me.

If we sum it all up at the end, what criteria do you think an ideal parish should meet?

Jozef Vadkerti: I have been a great idealist all my life, which is why my spiritual guide constantly emphasizes to me: “Joža, you must never start from what should be, but from what is.” So, in my opinion, an ideal parish does not exist, but existing parishes can strive to be ideal by making God’s love present.