A pastoral plan that comes from the bottom, developed according to the guidelines developed by the pastoral councils and working groups of the interdiocesan assembly entitled “Whatever he tells you, do it” which took place on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 June in the church of San Paolo apostle in Foligno. This is the novelty of the pastoral planning of the two dioceses of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino and Foligno united in person as bishops by Msgr. Domenico Sorrentino.
“The pastoral program – explained the bishop – will not be like other years, but will be managed by the Pastoral Councils with my introduction. So you have some responsibility! Please take it all upon yourself before the Spirit of God, before Jesus. We must start again with the enthusiasm of Pentecost. This is what I expect from you.”
“In this historical moment of great difficulty – added Mgr. Sorrentino -, what is missing is therapy, the ability to move from a global and ecclesial crisis to a great grace. And we have to overcome this crisis. The word crisis is the process that has lights and shadows. In this assembly we aim for light.” Speaking about the pastoral programs of previous years, the prelate recalled that the two sister Churches have found a lively pastoral intersection. “It was easy to find the meeting point and from that point we have been walking, since last year, on the same line, on the same straight. The straight line and the goal are already there, we just have to walk together.”
The content of the common program was summarized by the bishop who focused on the so-called “crisis triangle”: crisis of thought, relationships and solidarity, which he illustrated several times over the years. “Within this triangle – he underlined – there is great hope”. Focusing on the Casa Felice project and the parish renewal through the Maria Family of the Gospel Communities, as a path that goes from the homes to the parishes and makes the parish become a family of families, the bishop explained that these are “many united groups, alive like the organs of the same body. Groups characterized by a family intensity lived around the Gospel, which do: proclamation, catechesis, liturgical animation, presence of charity, presence in society, which do political charity”.
It was Don Giovanni Zampa, episcopal vicar for the Pastoral Care of the diocese of Foligno who introduced the theme “Communion, participation and mission for a ‘Happy Home’. Modality of co-responsibility in the Church” explaining it through the biblical icon “the House of Cana”.
Before the group work on the proposal developed by the diocesan pastoral councils, Don Paolo Asolan, president of the Pontifical Institute Redemptor Hominis of the Pontifical Lateran University and professor of fundamental pastoral theology, spoke on the “Methods of co-responsibility in the Church. How to participate in the evangelical promotion of a ‘Happy Home’”.
