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Ministry within the Catholic Community
Parish pastoral associate
Over the past twenty years one of the roles of serving which has developed in many dioceses in the Australian church is the role of Parish Pastoral Associate. Many Sisters of Charity have been missioned to that role in various parishes within Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania. A Sister working as a Pastoral Associate serves within the area of formal public responsible leadership in a parish. Each Parish differs in the carrying out of that leadership but basically the Sister is appointed by the Parish Priest to collaborate with him in leading the pastoral care of the Parish Community. She has significant areas of involvement at Parish planning level.
For a number of years, in the Blackheath Parish in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, a Sister of Charity conducted Baptisms, funeral services and other duties formerly performed by the Clergy. At the request of the Local Bishop, this is one of those parishes being prepared for the withdrawal of the Religious and left completely to the Laity. The task has been an onerous one but gradually, through education and encouragement, the parishioners have come to realise their own potential and baptismal role.
In several other parishes, a Sister Associate or Parish Assistant works side by side with the ageing and diminishing clergy. Sometimes one of the Sister's most significant roles is that of community-building through Adult Education. Many Sisters, formerly engaged in Education, are adept at this task. Adult Religious and Secular Education Programmes are conducted, Catechists are trained and parishioners are prepared, through the R.C.I.A. Programmes, for reception into the Catholic Church. A greater understanding of the Church's Liturgy and Music is being taught. In addition, the Sisters often represent their local Church at inter-faith gatherings and Religious Conferences. One finds these Sisters on Parish Councils and being liaison persons between school and family.
One of the most pastoral duties performed by these Sisters is the visitation of the sick and elderly in their homes, in the hospitals, and in the institutions for the elderly. The Sister may often take Holy Communion to the house bound and, at times, conducts the Communion Service wherever appropriate. This new aspect of ministry for the Sisters of Charity is in reality just a continuation and extension of the work of our pioneer Sisters who, from the earliest times to the present, visited the homes on a regular basis and responded wherever possible to the needs they met.
