 |
|
|
| |
THE BENEFITS OF HOME VISITS BY THE PRIEST
|
|
| |
 |
|
|
1. People know that you value them as individuals and families, that you consider them to be important, and that they belong.
2. People know that you care about their needs, not just your own institutional needs.
3. On their own ground, people will raise a lot more issues with you than they will "on your turf".
4. You develop a caring trust and rapport with people before there is a pastoral emergency or a conflict.
5. Having a sense of the individuals, the families, their lifestyles and concerns, your sermons are much better informed.
6. It is much easier to remember family, their names, their gifts, and their associations after you have singly focused your attention, time, and prayers on them.
7. Many of your most creative and workable program ideas will come out of the context of parish visiting.
8. You gain a better spatial sense of your parish, community identities, psychological boundaries, local culture, community activities, etc.
9. Knowing people at a deeper level you have many more resources for future recruiting and community problem solving.
10. Parish visiting develops a sense of familiarity, approachability, and trust that builds up the common life. Visiting creates a counter weight to the normal fractiousness and dissipation of any community's relationships.
Item VI
©1999 Ronald C. Ferris
... back to "Resources for effective parish leadership" main page
|
|
|
 |
