The Parish CHRISTIAN WITNESS

The Parish What is a parish? Who makes up a parish?

The Parish It might surprise you to know that a parish priest is a very busy man. He works 6 days a week and can be on call 24hrs a day. Many parish priests have more than 1 parish to look after. Produce a mind map of all the things a parish priest might do.

The Parish Fr. (insert name) will be in to speak to us next lesson about what he does. Prepare some questions about his duties as a parish priest.

The Parish Having listened to your parish priest speak about his duties add to your mind map anything you have missed. Did any of the priest’s duties surprise you?

The Parish Working in groups, make a list of a)jobs that need done b)groups that might meet Now discuss who is responsible for each

Within each parish there will be lots of different groups. Below are just some examples. The Parish Passkeepers Baptismal Catechesis / Preparation Bereavement Children’s Liturgy RCIA Legion of Mary Charismatic Prayer Group SPRED SSDP Youth Group One World Group Fairtrade Eucharistic Ministers Readers Flowers Sacristy Cleaning Altar Servers

The Parish All of these parish groups are essential to the parish and enhance the faith life of all its members. While the parish priest will be involved in many of these groups, it is the lay people who run most of them. We will be holding a Parish Conference for all S6 students to attend. During this event you will meet some of the people who work in our local parishes and learn about some of the groups.

The Parish Working in groups prepare some questions to be asked during the Parish Conference. Some example question: What is the aim of your group? What work do you do? Why do you volunteer within your parish?

The Parish After the conference pick 2 or 3 of the groups you met with and prepare a wall display on their work and how they contribute to the life of a parish.