The Essential Role of the Parish Community

Bishop Murphy in his weekly Montana Catholic Register “Reflections” column emphasizes the integral importance of the parish community to the mission and ministry of the universal Catholic Church. The following excerpt illustrates his viewpoint, “Each parish in a diocese has a responsibility to contribute to the spiritual growth of its own members as well as other members of the diocesan community. Paradoxically, a parish fulfills its purpose for its own membership the more it becomes aware of its relationship to a diocesan, national and international Church community.”