Pobal Dé

25 years ago, a group of lay people in Ireland set up an organization called Pobal Dé (people of God), aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of the vision of the Catholic Church as the People of God, and developing a spirituality that would engage with the contemporary world and support people in their daily lives.

To pursue these aims, it offers an annual open forum – the most recent one was entitled: “Are the People of God Powerless?”

As the current rte advert goes: “before you make up your mind open it”. Hence do we not need to have some serious reflection on the various questions arising in our Church today, such as:

(a) does the language we use for worship not need to reflect who we are at this time in our history – with all our different cultures and contexts? (b) do women not need to have a recognized place in the life of the Church?

The enthusiasm and interest expressed by all those who attended is indeed an encouraging sign of God’s Spirit at work at grass roots – seeking to find ways of breathing new life into the “cracks” of the existing Church structure. In the gospels, we find Jesus using imaginative language to communicate his message. Where is the ‘yeast’ to come from today? Where is the ‘narrow door’? the mustard seed? Let’s hope we can continue to discern what is really essential to one’s life of faith in response to the prayer of Jesus: “ I want those you have given me to be with me where I am…” Jn 17:24.

 

 

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