"The Shared Parish," Part 3

(Part one is here and part two is here.)
Fr. Tonelotto, pastor of Our Lady of Pompeii (Manhattan), discussed his diverse parish, which includes “old” and “new” Italians, Filipinos, Brazilians, and Latina/os – a pastorally challenging, sometimes difficult, but vivifying place to be.

(Photo credit: cmsny.org)
He spoke of the importance of establishing the parish’s Facebook presence to especially reach younger generations, and of the parish’s decision to start “live streaming” Mass over the Internet to help people feel connected to the parish when they can’t make it in person. He has noticed greater success in ministry with the Filipino community when they are able to have a Filipino priest in the parish. In fact, with the Brazilian community, a continuous stream of Brazilian priests has allowed that community to sustain their Catholic culture—but has also had the effect of keeping them somewhat separate from the life of the rest of the parish. His Spanish-speaking parishioners hail from Latin America as well as from Spain, making for a complex mix of backgrounds, he said. Many work near the parish but do not live nearby. That has meant accommodating ministry to the schedules of these local workers, such as a recent 6-hour schedule for confessions during the daytime when workers could drop in.
He argued that one of the most important things is that the church doors are open from 7 in the morning until 9 at night every day. This is a practical welcoming gesture and also symbolically important that the church is open for all who come by. Related to this, he emphasized that the parish must be a social place, where communities come to gather, have their needs heard and met as much as possible, where people come to see and be with each other. This needs to be true both “on the ground” and “online,” he suggested.
To be continued…
Tom Beaudoin, San Francisco, California