Faith can no longer be taken for granted. Not even among those who regularly take part in the life of the Church. This is the clear and uncompromising starting point of Rooted and Built Up in Christ, the document approved by the General Assembly of the Italian bishops as an operational instrument for bringing the content of the Synodal Path into the life of local communities. It sets out four deliberately concise guidelines: bringing the gift of faith back to the centre, strengthening community life, promoting differentiated co-responsibility, and assessing the adequacy of existing structures. It is not a balance sheet, but a compass. The bishops write that the changes currently under way “can, however, pose a challenge in terms of bearing a prophetic witness”, acknowledging that “the transmission of the Christian faith today is no longer a normal process that can simply be taken for granted”.
Returning to the kerygma, forming adults
The first key area concerns faith that is lived out, transmitted and celebrated. The document does not merely highlight a deficit; it points to the way forward. The bishops reaffirm the centrality of the kerygma, recalling the words of Pope Francis in Evangelii gaudium — reaffirmed by Pope Leo XIV — on the first proclamation as the enduring heart of all evangelising activity. The text identifies two urgent priorities. The first concerns young people: the current models of Christian initiation are no longer adequate. The second, perhaps more innovative, concerns adults. The document explicitly speaks of “pathways of first or second proclamation” for those who encounter parish life, as well as journeys of “renewed beginnings” in faith.
“We can no longer rely solely on what was learned and experienced during the process of Christian initiation”, the bishops write.
The text calls for the creation of “welcoming settings for listening and for the mature sharing of faith”, shaped by the Gospel and attentive to the realities of contemporary life. Liturgical celebrations must be “meaningful, attractive and accessible”. The bishops stress that the liturgy itself is faith in action and cannot remain detached from the life of the community. Closely linked to this is the question of charity. The document warns against the risk of a “separation” between charitable and social engagement and the life of faith. Works of service must remain “an expression of communities in which faith is genuinely lived”, rather than becoming forms of assistance detached from ecclesial belonging. An “individualistic culture”, the text notes, can even find its way into the lives of those who make a supposed spiritual search a means of avoiding commitment and witness in the world.
Parishes to be reimagined, dioceses to be merged
The second and third guidelines concern the structure of the Church across the territory, employing language that does not shy away from the term “reconfiguration”. Parishes are called to become “a community of communities”, places of authentic relationships and shared responsibility. “In a society where places of community life are becoming ever scarcer”, the document states, quoting Leaven of Peace and Hope, “parishes are called to develop the outward-looking dimension of their identity as missionary communities”. Pope Leo XIV is also cited: “Where human and social relationships become difficult and conflict takes shape, a Church capable of reconciliation must make herself visible”. The most far-reaching proposal concerns dioceses. In the coming years, the Regional Episcopal Conferences will work on criteria to determine “in which cases the merging of dioceses may be appropriate and forward-looking”.
With regard to co-responsibility, the document opens the possibility of new baptismal ministries entrusted to women and men, team-based pastoral leadership, and a revision of the bishops’ commissions through the inclusion of non-bishops, transforming them into “Ecclesial Commissions”.
“The ministry of guiding Christian communities will need to be reconsidered in the face of forms of authority that remain monocratic and clerical”, the text states, highlighting the need to “ensure the presence of women in positions of authority and leadership”. The final guideline concerns structures, that is to say, buildings, properties and bureaucratic systems that risk becoming “a burden”, diverting energies away from proclamation. The document calls for “new ways of managing and administering existing structures”, so that they never become obstacles to mission. It concludes with an invitation to regular evaluation: “To initiate processes means accepting that ecclesial renewal requires time, patience, discernment, conversion and perseverance”.
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