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- Basic Christian Community (B.C.C.)
| Director |
Very Rev. Msgr. Rufus Pius Lean |
0471-2221942, 0472-2853543 |
| Executive Secretary |
Rev. Fr. Haridas E. |
0471-2221942, 2211015 |
Aim of B.C.C.
The Basic Christian Community (B.C.C.) is the new way of being the Church and the aim of B.C.C.s is the aim of the Church itself. Church is the continuation of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ in history. The presence of Jesus Christ in history and the Emmanuel experience, i.e., 'God with us experience' in the world are most important factors of Christian life. In the course of history the 'God with us experience' was lost in the Church, as the Church community became large crowds, incapable of relating to each other.
As a pastoral approach to bring back this 'God with us experience' to the Church, small Church communities evolved. These small communities have different names such as Basic Christian Community (B.C.C.), Basic Ecclesial Community etc.
The Diocese of Neyyattinkara, following this vision of the Church, which
has its origin in the Mother Diocese of Trivandrum, reaffirmed that the
Church can be a sign of salvation only in small communities.
The four characteristics of the B.C.Cs are the
following:
- They meet in houses:
Faithfulness to fellowship
- They share the word of God:
The "Word" becomes the source of their life and relationship
- They care for each other:
They minister to each other in their pastoral, social and
educational needs.
- They are united to the universal Church:
They become an Eucharistic community.
The first characteristic of the B.C.Cs is deepening the relationship between
the members and to reconcile with each other so that they can be witnesses
to the love of Christ by breaking all divisions in the community. This
experience of fellowship gives them a sense of belongingness and they
come to the understanding that Christianity is not commitment to some
ideas but commitment to persons.
In the B.C.Cs they experience the presence of the risen Lord by putting
into practice the 'Word of God' which is the source of their faith. This
process of sharing the Word in the community helps them to speak one
'language' (unity of hearts) and build their relationship on solid foundation.
The four different ministries in the Diocese, namely, Pastoral, Social,
Educational and Temporal are brought down the B.C.Cs in view of making
every baptized person a minister for each other in the Diocese.
Lot of activities take place in the B.C.Cs to deepen the faith of each other and to
help each other in their financial, social and educational needs in communities
where the ministries become more active in developing fellowship and unity.
The B.C.Cs themselves do not become the Church. They need to be
united to the universal Church through their participation in the Eucharist
and accepting the leadership of the Church. The first three characteristics
of B.C.Cs help them to build themselves as an Eucharist community.
With these aims in mind the B.C.Cs in our Diocese meet once in a fortnight.
On the basis of the Word of God they share in each meeting, they discuss
the problems of the community and find solutions for them and they pray
for each other. The leaders of B.C.Cs gather in parish level once in two
months for evaluation and preparing for the following meetings. The leaders'
meetings are conducted by the Parish Priest and Forane Animator for
B.C.C. Directions are given to the Parish Council to share with the leaders
of B.C.Cs the plan of action of the Parish and the Forane in order to
ensure more participation in the formation programmes and celebrations
in the Forane and Parish.
Formation programmes are offered to the B.C.C.
leaders in Parish and Forane levels to enable to build the 1359 units in
Seven Foranes as the realization and the pointer to the Kingdom of God.
The Forane and Diocesan conventions become the proclamation of
fellowship of the people in the Diocese.
Contribution of the B.C.Cs
- Increased the participation of laity in the life of the Diocese.
- Lay leadership grew qualitatively, especially the leadership of women.
- Liturgy and participation in sacraments and family prayer became more active.
- Spreading and breaking of Word of God increased.
- Ability to pray spontaneously
- Social commitment has increased so that they minister to each other to a large extent.
- Developed the different talents of the people.
- Attitudinal change in the people brought about generosity and deeper fellowship.
- People feel that they are the Church and their sense of belongingness increased.
- The faith of the people and the capacity to forgive each other have increased.
- Popular devotion and active participation in the pious associations increased.
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