“The Future of our Parishes: Communities of Belonging and Evangelisation” Bishop Tom Deenihan The Parish to which one belongs indicates a community, a sense of belonging and a sense of pride. While a parish is a church structure, it is also more than that. The parish is a place of evangelisation, a place where the sacraments are celebrated and a place where we celebrate our faith but it is also a place with which we identify ourselves. It is also true that whereas in the past a parish was defined in geographical terms, there are now challenges to a parish’s identity arising from rural depopulation in some parts of the Diocese and phenomenal growth in others. In addition, many choose to attend a particular parish for reasons of the time of celebration or for liturgical preferences such as a particular choir. It can be hard to define precisely what a parish is and, at times, what parish one belongs to. As Pope Francis reminded us, the parish is ‘the presence of the Church in a given territory, an environment for hearing God’s word, for growth in the Christian life, for dialogue, proclamation, charitable outreach, worship and celebration’. This is the task of a parish today: to be a community, to rediscover its identity as a community of faith, hope and love. One is not a Christian all by oneself.