Communities
“The baptized who experience acceptance, healing and empowerment in the faith community are better prepared to bring an understanding ear, a reconciling touch, and an encouraging voice to alienated persons on campus.” —Empowered by the Spirit: Campus Ministry Faces the Future #38
Pope John Paul II has many times expressed the support the Church gives for small faith communities (SFC) faithful to the Church’s teaching and spirit:
“It is also necessary for us to create around us an environment that fosters and strengthens the faith of the individual. Authentic Christian life needs the support of a living community of faith and love. A Christian community at the service of the faith has to grow from being a simple Bible Study or Prayer group, or a social action group to a group in which the members share their faith with one another through the proclamation of God’s Word, bear common witness to the Word they proclaim, carry the Word beyond the group to the society in which they live.
Pastors and Catechists should exert more effort in the formation of suitable community leaders and animators, so that our small Christian communities may develop into truly self-evangelizing communities in which the faithful are progressively formed in the faith in an on-going manner, and trained to be evangelizers and witnesses to Christ reaching out to those who do not yet know Him or do not know Him sufficiently.” (Address 3/13/96)
Faith Based and Affiliates