• a group of 8-12 individuals who get together at least twice a month for 2 hours or so to share their life experiences and to grow in their faith while getting to know group members

• often, programs are used in the early stages of group development to allow for members to get acquainted and to establish ground rules for listening and sharing in a group

• a trained leader facilitates the group

• the main components of an SCC are reflection and education, mutual support and caring, prayer and worship, Scripture and service to one another, to the parish and to others

• Small Church Communities help us to discover and honor our own life experiences and to connect them to our faith through sharing on the scriptures.

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• participating in a personal, supportive environment with a sense of belonging

• having the opportunity to be listened to in a trusting and non-judgemental atmosphere

• sharing your life and faith experiences

• deepening your own sense of the connection of life and faith

• being able to meet people from the parish

• having your abilities and talents encouraged and appreciated

• feeling supported during trying times and sharing joys during happy times

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• Our culture and society today emphasizes the need to come to truth through externals such as education, science and logic. With this type of view, individualism thrives as people are concerned mainly with their own stories and much less with the common good. In Small Church Community, we familiarize ourselves with the pattern of the Great Story through the scripture. We come to trust what we learn from sharing our experiences, and we become able to mediate between the common good and individual rights. Through the use of scripture in an SCC, we recapture a life in which meaning is not created, manufactured or figured out, a life free from rules about perfect order and being right.

• American Catholics today move more often than in the past, have less stable relationships, experience less control over their lives and are bombarded daily by the secular values preached by today’s consumer-oriented society. The individual can feel isolated and can live their lives on the surface of experience.

• Many Catholics no longer expect to be loved in their parish, or to be known or to be prayed for, love being a fundamental and foundational value of the Christian life.

• The parish is meant to foster two basic realities: an experience of love and an experience of faith.
  1. To truly feel loved, one has to be known as a person.

  2. Most of us need help from others to learn about our own faith experiences. We all have faith, yet we often don’t trust the faith within us or don’t know how to recognize and describe our experience of faith.

• Gathering in small groups allows church to become "We" instead of "They". The more our experiences of faith and love are shared, the more people notice God and God’s call to be church for one another.

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• Fr. Baranowski describes himself as an "ordinary, hardworking parish priest". Formerly of St. Elizabeth Seton Parish of Troy, Michigan, he is now pastor at St. Christopher Church in Marysville, Michigan. He is the founder of the National Alliance of Parishes Restructuring into Communities.

• Fr. Baranowski’s vision of restructuring parishes into small communities is described in his book, Creating Small Faith Communities (1988, St. Anthony Messenger Press).

• Here is a summary of the book:
  • "The task of the parish today is to rediscover itself as a 'community’". Few people feel that the church fills the needs of their life experience. ‘Churchy’ terms often turn people off and they might be put off by ‘sharing their faith’. Still, each one of us possess a sensitivity to life that must be heard. Fr. Baranowski outlines techniques whereby parish leaders can tap into the wealth of that experience. Once the ice has broken, small discussion groups form and small church communities develop. As Fr. Baranowski says, "The church of the future will be a church where people start connecting with each other".

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• 1993 - St. Charles participates in the Diocese of Rochester Synod process, one Synod goal being establishment of small church communities at St. Charles.

• 1993 - The Synod Implementation Team (SIT) is formed and identifies the SCC goal as first for implementation.

• 1996 - Fr. Doug Della Pietra commissioned as SCC coordinator.

• 1996 - The SCC Core Team (the SCC planning and implementation group) is formed.

• 1997 - Initial invitations for formation of first small church communities during Lent.

• 2000 - In Spring, Pat Robinson takes over as SCC Coordinator and is commissioned in Fall,2000.

• 2001 - Elizabeth Cilano is commissioned as SCC Coordinator in the Fall of 2001.

• currently, before each Lenten season, invitations and publicity for formation of new groups are presented.

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• The vision for St. Charles involves a "restructuring" of the parish.

• "Restructuring" is defined by Fr. Art Baranowski as "doing parish programs differently and establishing small church communities in order for people to connect their everyday life and faith".

• "doing things differently" is where parish programs already in existence as well as parish committees and organizations gathering also try to connect faith and everyday life by incorporating some form of faith sharing in the context of their gathering.

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• Faith sharing is connecting our everyday life to our faith and our common faith stories and traditions so that both are enlivened and supported.

• In order to create a atrusting and non-judgemental environment for sharing, some general rules and covenant agreements are established at the beginning of the life of the group. For example:
  1. Faith sharing is a simple sharing of our experience that affords the opportunity to reflect on and recognize God's activity and presence in our daily lives.

  2. It is a time to be heard and to honor a moment in our lives.

  3. The gift of the group is to listen to the speaker offering hospitality and a safe place for the speaker to notice and express his/her thoughts and feelings.

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• Currently there are a dozen groups involving almost 100 people. Some groups formed as long ago as Lent, 1997.

• Current participants of SCC’s at St. Charles include retirees, young parents, single people, married people, clergy, grandparents........

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• Come As You Are: this is a 12 session program for beginning small groups. It is an invitation to slow down, to become more reflective about life. It provides an opportunity to bond and build trust with a few fellow parishioners. It helps people connect with one another so that they want to stay beyond the program and go deeper within their own lives.

• Praying Alone and Together: this is an 11 session prayer module that aims to enable people to recognize God communicating to them through their experience, to begin to talk to God in a personal way, to voice a prayer response in a group setting, to begin keeping a spiritual journal. It provides everything small faith sharing groups need to learn and practice the art of prayer.

• Quest: is a seasonal (spring, summer, fall and winter) Reflection Booklet for SCC’s offered through the Pastoral Department for Small Christian Communities from the Archdiocese of Hartford (467 Bloomfield Ave., Bloomfield, CT 06002, phone (860) 243-9642, fax (860) 286-0289). Each small group meeting encompasses the following parts: gathering and opening prayer; Scripture sharing, commentary and reflection; faith sharing and integration into our lives; our faith response in action and being sent forth "as a disciple of Jesus, called to be a catalyst for change. By answering this call we show Christ’s light to the world. Together we are called to be a community of salt and light" (Quest, p. 10).

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• Generally, groups are formed before the Lenten season. Look for pulpit announcements and information in the bulletin.

• If you wish more information sooner, contact the St.Charles rectory or any member of the SCC Core Team.

• In the future, groups may be formed at other times during the year. This site will be updated as that information becomes available.

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• The role of the facilitator in an SCC is to be at the service of the other members of the group, to help them relate to each other, to keep the group true to its purpose.

• The facilitator insures an environment where all members of the group have the opportunity to be listened to attentively and with respect.

• The facilitator brings out the best already present in people through a process of interaction.

• At St. Charles, facilitators receive training and meet regularly with each other for support and faith sharing.

• The qualities of a good facilitator are: a love and concern for the church at all levels, the ability to make people feel comfortable, a personal sense of God, being a good listener, being able to affirm others, being responsible, open and with a good sense of self-esteem.

• If you are interested in becoming a facilitator, contact the rectory (585-663-3230) or any member of the SCC Core Team.

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• knowing how to listen

• knowing what to listen for

• showing understanding

• unfolding an experience

• getting a group going

• setting the tone

• creating a safe atmosphere

• encouraging people to share their lived experience

• being aware of individual needs and group dynamics

• clarifying the roles and responsibilities of facilitators and members

• understanding the stages of group development

If you would like further information please contact the Borromeo Prayer Center at (585) 663-5856.

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• The SCC Core team was formed in August 1996.

• The mission of the St. Charles SCC Core Team is to provide leadership, planning, implementation, support, encouragement and on-going development:
  • for Small faith sharing Church Communities, and
  • for the inclusion of faith sharing in all aspects of parish life and its ministries.

  The vision of the St. Charles SCC Core Team is that all members of St. Charles parish will be members of a Small faith sharing Church Community and that all aspects of parish life and its ministries will include faith sharing.

• General qualifications for members of the Core Team are:
  • understanding and accepting the vision that SCC’s are not just another program but rather a way of parish life

  • a practical sense of what works and a willingness to take the step-by-step approach realizing that some steps must happen in their own time

  • a sense of willingness to work as a team

  • a willingness and ability to share faith and life experience and to listen while others share theirs.

• The St. Charles SCC Core Team is:
  • Elizabeth Cilano, Coordinator
  • Tom Gurak
  • Tom Murtha
  • Connie Nichol

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• Stay tuned for announcements as events are scheduled.

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