1998 General Chapter

                                   Parochial Ministry

Holy Cross Priests, Brothers, and Sisters serve the Church in many pastoral ministries, but prominently in the parish apostolate.  While fulfilling the diverse service parochial ministers are expected to provide, Holy Cross religious emphasize and exhibit certain aspects of this ministry as characteristic of Holy Cross:

• closeness to people's lives, their way of living and culture, their difficulties, joys and struggles. 

• witness of living in community which inspires the communitarian model for the Church and society at large. 

• spirit of collaboration with the laity in order to empower them, through spiritual and theological formation, to become active ministers of evangelization. 

• special sensitivity to the role of women in the Church and disposition to collaboration with them, especially with our sisters in Holy Cross. 

• special preoccupation with the strengthening of family values and the education of the young. 

• preferential attention to the needs of the poor, immigrants and minorities, and the education of parishioners in issues of social justice.