Co-responsibility in Maltese parish communities in the light of ‘Evangelii Gaudium’

Abstract

Despite the numerous theological developments in the concept of ecclesial coresponsibility, little attention has been paid to articulating a comprehensive view of how co-responsibility is to be lived within a parish community. The present research has taken the challenge presented by Pope Francis of reviewing pastoral activity on all levels, and has studied how the call to co-responsibility is being embraced by parishioners in Malta. This study has discovered that all parishioners are coresponsible in the fulfilment of the ecclesial mission, be it through their involvement in the secular world, through ministry or in parish governance. A strong correlation has been established between the different forms of co-responsibility, as well as with the sense of belonging to a parish community. This study is contextualised within contemporary Maltese culture. The vision articulated in this thesis discusses how parishioners can develop “a missionary impulse, capable of transforming everything, so that the Church's customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channelled for the evangelization of today's world" (Evangelii Gaudium 27).