Small Church Communities
Read an article published in the 2007 Evangelization Supplement of The Criterion:
Article: Finding God in Small Church Communities
By Peter Ambting
Two years ago I read an article in the monthly magazine of the archdiocese of Utrecht that started my interest in Small Church Communities. The article reported a visit by Br. Bob Moriarty S.M. who leads the Office of Small Christian Communities (SCC’s) in the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut. This office is responsible for assisting parishes in creating and supporting SCCs. He visited the Netherlands because our archdiocese also wants to start Small Christian Communities. This article awakened my first interest in Small Christian Communities. After reading the article I gathered more information about SCC’s on the Internet. Slowly I became convinced that Small Christian Communities could help the missionary Church to spread the good news of Christ. This is not just the job of clergy or pastoral workers; it is the work of all the faithful. I believe that SCC’s can help to activate the faith of ordinary people so that they can become missionaries in their own time and place.
The idea slowly came to me that I should study these Small Christian Communities. America seemed a good place to start my study. Certain features of American life like McDonalds have succeeded in Europe. Why not Small Christian Communities? My first American contact was with Br. Bob Moriarty. Through him I was connected with Fr. Clem Davis who put me in touch with Msgr. Paul Koetter, pastor of St. Monica’s pariahs in Indianapolis. By the end of August I made St. Monica’s my home as I began my study of SCC’s.
Two things have been particularly notable during my study of Small Christian Communities. First is that the members of the Small Christian Communities are highly conscious of the personal relationship which they have with God. Through their regular meeting these people have learned to open themselves to hear God speaking. By spending time reflecting on the Sunday gospel, the gospel is incorporated into participant’s daily lives. Besides talking about God, people in the SCC’s also talk with God by praying together. One SCC participant summarized the value of her SCC experience in deepening her relationship with God: “By the SCC I have become more sensitive and aware of God speaking through the scripture, through the creation of through people. As an answer I maintain a daily prayer life.”
Beside the relation with God a relation with people, with brothers and sisters in faith arise. People in SCC’s share their faith with each other. It is in this community where God’s presence becomes known. During my observations at Saint Monica’s I have seen how important the SCC’s as community is for the participants. Often the SCC becomes a type of family for each other. The participants carry each other in prayer and help each other in their lives. In several groups I have heard how this support has been especially important to them in the difficult moments of life. When serious illness arose or when they suffered the loss of someone they loved, the support of their SC helped carry them through.
Relationship with God and relationship with the neighbours; is this not exactly what Jesus named as the greatest commandment? “Love God above everything and love your neighbour as yourself.” This dual command is exactly what Small Chrisitian Communities strive to practice by reflection on the gospel, prayer, faith conversation, caring personal relationships and service. St. Augustine says that Jesus’ dual command is interchangeable. By loving our neighbour we love God. “All of you are temples of god,” Augustine says at the end of his Rule. By sharing the faith in love, we will find God.
(Peter Ambting, a 5th year seminarian of the Archdiocese of Utrecht in the Netherlands. He is a student at the Catholic Theological University of Utrecht. From August-December 2005 he is studying Small Church Communities in the United States for his final Master’s degree thesis. During this time he is residing at St. Monica parish in Indianapolis.)