PARISH FAMILY DEDICATION CEREMONY AND BLESSING

Introduction. (At the beginning of the new year the theme of DEDICATION AND COMMITMENT can be incorporated into the Sunday liturgy when families are back from holidays. All members are asked to recommit themselves to their forms of service.)

At the beginning of a new year in homes, school or parish many dedicated people take up their task and mission of witnessing to their faith, expressing love, mercy, and care for creation in the Church and the World as a Family of Families. Witnessing is an outward expression of faith with the tasks of worship, teaching and service to one another, God and creation. The parish priest, deacons, assistant ministers of the Eucharist and of the Word, members of the PPC and PFC, choir, liturgy committee and catechists all have a recognized form of ministry. Sodality members and many Catholics who work as volunteers in the community also perform acts of service as an expression of their faith and love. Family members, as the domestic church and the first carers of creation, perform the same tasks as they pray, teach and serve each other. They are bread-winners in the world and home-makers, carrying out their chores, large and small, and pray and play together. This calling to missionary discipleship, from our Baptism, concerns all people and all of creation.

COMMISSIONING by priest, deacon or pastoral council

I commission you, the People of God, to serve God and one another as you dedicate yourselves to your particular tasks of worship, teaching and service in order to build up the Kingdom of God in all of creation. Through our common commitment may we build the Church in our homes, the parish and the wider community to be a visible sign of God’s presence in the world. I pledge my support to you as we work together in our ministry.

RECOMMITMENT PLEDGE.

We, the People of God, in our families and the community commit ourselves to our tasks of worship, teaching and service and dedicate ourselves to build up God’s kingdom in all of creation to the best of our ability.