«Ordinary» ways of experiencing faith: popular piety, the parish

27. It is a fact that, in what are known as «Christian» countries, from one generation to the next there had developed a whole way of understanding and living the faith which eventually, to a greater or lesser degree, permeated people's individual and social lives: local feasts, family traditions, various celebrations, pilgrimages and so on. This created a whole culture which effectively included everyone, a culture built on faith and organized around it. Such a culture appears to be particularly threatened by secularism. It is important to support the better efforts which have been made to revive such traditions. However, this must not be left to specialists in folk heritage or politics, whose aims are often alien, if not hostile, to faith; pastoral workers, Christian communities and qualified theologians, should also be involved.

If they are to touch people's hearts, proclaiming the Gospel to the young and to adults, and celebrating salvation in the liturgy demand not only a profound knowledge of the faith, but also a knowledge of the cultural environment. When people love their culture as the special part of their life, it is in that culture that they live and profess their Christian faith. Bishops, priests, men and women religious and lay people need to develop a sensitivity to this culture, in order to protect and promote it in the light of Gospel values, above all when it is a minority culture. Such attention to culture can offer those who are in any way disadvantaged a way to faith and to a better quality of Christian life at the heart of the Church. Men and women who have integrated a deep faith with their education and culture are living witnesses who will help many others to rediscover the Christian roots of their culture.

28. Religion is also memory and tradition, and popular piety is one of the best examples of genuine inculturation of faith, because it is a harmonious blend of faith and liturgy, feelings and art, and the recognition of our identity in local traditions. Thus, «America, which historically has been, and still is, a melting-pot of peoples, has recognized in the mestiza face of the Virgin of Tepeyac, in Blessed Mary of Guadalupe, an impressive example of a perfectly inculturated evangelization» (Ecclesia in America, 11). Popular piety is evidence of the osmosis that takes place between the innovative power of the Gospel and the deepest levels of a culture. It is one of the foremost opportunities for people to meet the living Christ. There needs to be a constant pastoral discernment of popular piety as it evolves, in order to discover its genuine spiritual values and bring them to fruition in Christ «so that... it might lead to a sincere conversion and a practical exercise of charity» (cf. Ibid., 16). Popular piety is the way a people expresses its faith and its relationship to God and his Providence, to Our Lady and the saints, to one's neighbour, to those who have died or to creation, and it strengthens its belonging to the Church. Purifying and catechising expressions of popular piety can, in certain regions, be a decisive element for an in-depth evangelization to support and to develop a true community awareness in the sharing of faith, particularly through the demonstration of the religiosity of the people of God as in the celebration of major religious feasts (cf. Lumen Gentium, 67). These humble means are available to everyone, and allow the faithful to express their faith, be strong in hope and demonstrate their love. Daily life in many lands is coloured by a strong sense of the sacred. A valid pastoral approach should promote and make the most of holy places, sanctuaries and pilgrimages, holy days and holy nights, liturgical vigils and adoration, holy things or sacramentals, remembrances and the sacred seasons of the liturgy. Several dioceses and university chaplaincies organize, at least once each year, a journey on foot to a sacred place, following in the footsteps of the Hebrews who sang the Canticles of Ascent with real joy as they drew near Jerusalem.

Popular piety naturally cries out for artistic expression. Those with pastoral responsibility must encourage creativity in all areas: ritual, music, song, decoration etc... They should also see to it that these things are of good cultural and religious quality.

The parish, «the Church placed in the neighbourhoods of humanity» (Christifideles Laici, 27), is one of the major assets of the history of Christianity and for the vast majority of the faithful it remains the focal point for the ordinary practice of their faith. The vitality of the Christian community, united by the faith, gathered to celebrate the Eucharist, bears witness to the living faith and to Christ's love and it constitutes a profoundly human centre of religious education. In a variety of forms, depending on the age and capacities of the faithful, the parish provides a practical inculturated illustration of the faith, as it is professed and celebrated by the community of believers. This early formation experienced within the parish is decisive. It introduces people to the tradition and lays the foundations of a living faith and of a profound understanding of the Church.

In the complex and sometimes violent urban context, the parish fulfills an irreplaceable pastoral function as a place of Christian initiation and inculturated evangelization, where different groups of people find unity in their joyful celebration of a single faith and the apostolic commitment of which the Eucharistic liturgy is the soul. As diversified communities, parishes are in an excellent position to respond to new cultural demands by implementing a pastoral approach to culture based on listening, dialogue and support, thanks to priests and parishioners who are well prepared in matters of religion and culture (cf. Christifideles Laici, 27).