A Wonderful and Sacred Mystery

A Wonderful and Sacred Mystery: A Practical Theology of the Parish Church is the new book available from Ascension Press. You can get it as an eBook on Amazon at this link for $9.99. It will be available as a paperback soon. The book is the first offering of the new Shaping the Parish series from Ascension Press. Michelle Heyne and Robert Gallagher, two professed members of the Order of the Ascension have collaborated in writing the book. 

About A Wonderful and Sacred Mystery: A Practical Theology of the Parish Church

Our starting place is what is organic in the inner life of any parish church. To effectively and faithfully shape the parish, the work needs to be grounded in an understanding of the natural functioning of the body of Christ; in the inherent functioning of that microcosm called the parish church.

The need is to shift our focus to the organic reality of the parish—we gather and we scatter, we are renewed and we go forth into our apostolate. It just happens. As Evelyn Underhill put it, “You are to be taken, consecrated, broken, and made a means of grace; vehicles of the Eternal Charity.” In our pastoral strategy, we want to pay attention to the natural organic rhythms and dynamics of the parish church. Once we have some understanding of that, we might better shape the parish in ways that align with those rhythms. 

Our hope is that this book will provide accessible pathways to understanding, shaping, and enriching the parish church’s purposes; and perhaps offer new clarity about both what is possible and what is already true. 

 Contents

Introduction
Chapter One: Images of the parish’s intrinsic dynamics and rhythms
Chapter Two: The goals of parish development 
Chapter Three: Power from the center pervades the whole
Chapter Four: Cultural density
Chapter Five: The knowledge and skills
Conclusion
Appendix A: Cultural density – US Marine Corps
Appendix B: Parish Development Leadership/Consultant Assessment