Following in Father d’Alzon’s footsteps
As diocesan priest, Emmanuel d’Alzon was firmly rooted in the local Church of the Diocese of Nîmes, which he served as Vicar General for most of his priestly life. However, his vision was as broad and universal as the Church itself. In keeping with our Founder’s broad apostolic vision, In keeping with the broad apostolic vision of our Founder, our commitment to the parish is part of the Church’s mission received from Christ, namely “to gather all women and men into the People of God,” by proclaiming “the Kingdom of God within us and around us.” (Rule of Life, 13 and 1).
An important reality today
Many religious are involved in parish ministry. This is partly due to our history. When missionaries arrived in a new territory, they often began by creating or taking charge of parishes. Our involvement in parishes shows that we are “men of the Church”, collaborators with the bishops.
Rich and varied relationships
The parish is a meeting place for people from different backgrounds.Rich and poor Christians come together. We live as people of faith and communion, in solidarity with the poor. It is also a place of contact with young people, where vocational pastoral care can be deployed.
The parish is a place of insertion, mission and vocation. In the parish, we are pastors and educators. The social, ecumenical and doctrinal dimensions of our charism are mobilized.
With lay people
The parish is a natural place for collaboration with the laity. It is also a privileged place for the formation of a responsible laity and theinculturation of the Word of God. In some countries, the lay-religious alliance has developed from parishes.
Our Assumptionist specificity
We are convinced that our charism can be put to good use in parish work. Bishops call on us to bring a certain diversity to their dioceses. This encourages us to share our uniqueness.
A booklet produced in 2009 provides pastoral guidelines for an Assumptionist presence in parishes (see below). It was enriched in 2022 with an economic directory for parishes (available on the Intranet, in the “Documents” section of the site).