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What are they? ... How does one join?

What is a Small Christian Community?

Small Christian Communities, or SCC’s as they are commonly called, are groups of St. Joan of Arc parishioners who come together outside of church for a variety of reasons. They may want to keep the Sunday “vibe” going throughout the week, or common goals or similar interests may unite them.

Most parishioners join SCC’s through the various SCC Gatherings hosted by St. Joan’s throughout the year. A couple of recent SCC gatherings were: the annual SCC Picnic at Minnehaha Park and an invitation to learn about SCC’s at St. Joan’s in May. However, an interested parishioner can also join SCC’s through a parishioner that they know who already belongs to an SCC, or via a “digital want ad” posting in the SCC section of the St. Joan’s website.

SCC’s at St. Joan’s are very unregulated. Meaning St. Joan’s does not: require the SCC’s to follow certain guidelines, only have a certain number of members, or even tell them how often they must meet and where. This liberal policy towards SCC’s is not necessarily the “norm” at other parishes. Tom Smith-Myott(right), Adult Formation Coordinator and SCC Staff Liaison, informed me that SCC Coordinators at other parishes have told him that they wished their SCC’s could be as “free” as the SCC model at St. Joan’s. In other parishes, it is not uncommon for the church to tell SCC’s what they should and should not be doing. It seems that unsupervised groups of parishioners make some parishes a little nervous!!!

St. Joan’s has so little “control” over the SCC’s that Tom was not sure how many SCC’s St. Joan’s currently has. Occasionally, Tom will ask SCC’s to tell him about themselves: who is a member, how often they meet, what they do together, for informational and communication purposes. If Tom has news to share with the SCC he knows whom to contact. Most communication in SCC’s is done via email. Currently, Tom has 30 SCC’s “registered” with him. But, he believes the actual number of St. Joan’s SCC’s to be 40-50. The average (which is practically a misnomer!) SCC has 8-10 members.

An SCC is usually organized around a theme or a common interest of its members. Some interests/activities of current SCC’s include:

The SCC is entirely free to choose its own direction: how often they want to meet, where they want to meet, what leadership structure they want, and what they want to do at each meeting.

Tom Smith-Myott is available to assist an SCC if they have any questions or problems. He also provides them with guidance when they are just beginning. Tom recommends (not mandates!) SCC’s do the following when first starting:

Tom recommends that people interested in joining or forming an SCC give a serious commitment to it. “Don’t just join an SCC as a way to fill time”. Tom said he and his wife arrange their schedule around the SCC they belong too (called Casa Base? or simple, basic home). Tom’s SCC meets twice/month for about three hours at a time. “Casa Base?” members encourage and support each other to: Another SCC at St. Joan’s, SAGES, recently sent a letter to Archbishop Harry Flynn with recommendations for solving the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. The letter is reprinted in the Features section of the St. Joan’s website.

How do you join an SCC?

The following are some of the ways a person interested in joining or starting an SCC can begin:

Janice LaDuke was baptized at St. Joan of Arc but her parents left St. Joan's in the early 70's and went to a "less radical" Catholic church instead. She's very glad to have found her way back to St. Joan's in 1994!! Janice is a librarian by profession and has been working in the library of a healthcare consulting firm since 1997. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to all kinds of music and working on her home near Como Lake in St. Paul. Janice is also Echo Thoren's assistant every Sunday at the 11:00 a.m. service.
It is possible to belong to more then one SCC. If you don’t enjoy a particular SCC or you are not getting what you want from it, you can: leave it, switch to another one, or create a new one.

The beauty of the Small Christian Communities at St. Joan or Arc is that they are entirely what their members make it!!

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