Called to be missionary communities

Installation of Fr Fidelis Udousoro – Pastor of Richmond Parish

Over the past week the universal Church has joyfully received the news that we have a pope. We describe him as our ‘Holy Father’. He is more to us than a leader or manager of the Church. We describe him as a father, and we have a filial attitude to him. Although we may not know him personally we still sense of bond of love and affection.

In a similar way the role of a Parish Priest is more than the administrator of a parish. We address our priests by the title of ‘father’. It is a title of affection and respect, even if he is much younger that we are!

As Catholics our life in the Church finds its concrete expression in and through the local parish. It is firstly the place where we gather to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, and, indeed, the other sacraments.

Our parish church is often quite dear to us. It is our spiritual home. If we have been in the parish for a length of time, we carry many memories of moments of joy and also moments of sadness. The parish church is a place of reassurance and comfort. It is where we are spiritually nourished and sustained.

The parish community is also important to us. We have formed close bonds with our fellow parishioners. We are a community, bound together by the faith we share and the common desire to live as true disciples of Jesus Christ.

Tonight in this simple but significant rite of installation of Fr Fidelis we can be reminded of all these things.

Allow me to quote from Canon Law as it describes the role of a parish priest. It states (Canon 519):

The parish priest is the proper pastor of the parish entrusted to him. He exercises the pastoral care of the community entrusted to him under the authority of the diocesan Bishop, whose ministry of Christ he is called to share, so that for this community he may carry out the offices of teaching, sanctifying and ruling with the cooperation of other priests or deacons and with the assistance of lay members of Christ’s faithful, in accordance with the law.

The Church understands that the role of the priest is threefold. It is known as the triple munera. The priest is to teach, sanctify and govern.

The first task of the priest is to proclaim the message of the Gospel. He does this in his preaching, but also in offering catechesis, for example, in preparing people for the sacraments. This ministry is most important as we all need to be nourished and inspired in the living out of our faith (I will return to this theme later).

Secondly, he is to sanctify. This is associated particularly with his administration of the sacraments. He is to be conduit of the grace of God touching and transforming people’s lives.

Thirdly, he is to govern, or lead, the community. This role has two very important aspects. Leadership in the Church is servant-leadership. A priest sees his role as that of a servant of the community. And leadership is to be collaborative. He is to work in close union with his people. This is expressed in parishes through the existence of a Parish Council.

In presenting Fr Fidelis to you as your pastor I would like to speak about one aspect of the parish which I believe is particularly important. Here I refer to comments made by Pope Leo when he addressed the Cardinals last Saturday morning.

The pope took the opportunity to outline his priorities. He mentioned in particular the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, speaking of the need for the Church to go through a certain conversion so that it becomes missionary. 

The call to be missionary has resonated deeply with me. Over the past year I invited all parishes to reflect on how they might become missionary in character. I know this is a challenge, but it is, I believe, the call of God for us at this time.

In his first Mass with the Cardinals Pope Leo commented on the challenge of being missionary especially in societies like our own. He said,

Even now, there are many contexts in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, fit only for weak or unintelligent people; contexts where people prefer other forms of security, like technology, money, success, power, or pleasure.

These are environments where it is not easy to witness to and proclaim the Gospel; where believers are ridiculed, opposed, disdained, or at best, tolerated or pitied. Yet precisely because of this, these are places where mission is most urgent, because the absence of faith often brings with it great suffering: the loss of meaning in life, forgetting of mercy, violations of human dignity in tragic ways, the crisis of the family, and many other wounds from which our society deeply suffers.

Nor are we lacking in contexts where Jesus – even though people admire Him as a man – is reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman. And this happens not only among nonbelievers but also among many baptized people who, on this level, end up living in a kind of practical atheism.

This is the world entrusted to us, the world in which, as Pope Francis has taught us so often, we are called to witness to the joyful faith in Christ the Savior.

So as we initiate the ministry of Fr Fidelis as Parish Priest, I ask you to work closely with him in advancing the mission of this parish, to become a truly missionary parish.

Fr Fidelis, may the Lord pour forth his grace upon you and make your ministry here in Richmond fruitful.

Archbishop Julian Porteous

Tuesday, May 13, 2025