Spread the word around
It has been well documented as to the decrease in attendances for mass services in churches across England and Ireland. With that comes the news that some members are looking for ways to adapt modern thinking to old methods.
The Bishop of Oxford has recently started a campaign with the aim of encouraging more people to attend church in the area.
Rt Revd John Pritchard started the “Tell Bishop John” scheme to help discover why residents in Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire have stopped going to mass services and those who wish to talk about their absence can leave comments on his website.
We know people fall out of the habit of coming to church for all sorts of reasons…A bereavement, for example, can leave someone feeling uncomfortable about coming on their own. Sometimes people are simply embarrassed because they’ve missed a few Sundays. Whatever the reason, I’d like to try and understand and to say they are always welcome.
Rt Revd John Pritchard
The Bishop’s campaign coincides with the UK campaign called Back to Church Sunday. Back to Church Sunday was pioneered in 2004 by the Diocese of Manchester where churchgoers invite friends and neighbours to come to church with them. It will be held this year on the 30th September.
In Cardiff, the nightclub Solace which dubs itself the “church in a bar” invited the Archbishop of Wales to debate religion with around 50 revellers at Dempsey’s.
Dr Barry Morgan conducted the question and answer session entitled Is Religion Bad? Over a drink and admitted that some of the questions he faced were “quite hard-hitting”.
If the church can reach out to people who ordinary churches can’t reach then that’s a very good thing…There were some people there who were certainly on the fringes, some people who professed to be atheists, some people had come from the pub downstairs.
Archbishop Barry Morgan
The Archbishop was invited by Wendy Sanderson from the Church Army. She is an evangelist and better known around the area as Sister Wendy, even though she is not a nun. In 2003 she began offering support of a spiritual nature to clubbers.
It seems to me this is something that could help bring different religions in the modern consciousness by bringing the church to the people rather then the other way around. There is a message to be given and it would appear there are those who are willing to listen to the ideals without committing there and then.
People have to be allowed to make up their own minds as to the path they follow and during this trial they will look for information on all sides. With that in mind is it not natural to think that they may turn to a more modern thinking church?
Wednesday, September 5th, 2007 and is filed under Love Thy Neighbour, Prayer & the Christian life, Thoughts & Questions.
You can leave a comment.
Sean Says:
Interesting piece. When I look around Mass in Ireland I see OAPs and families with young children, there is a massive section of15-30 year olds generally missing and yet to me the church seems to either have given up on these people, hoping that they find their own way back or else they are too afraid to approach this age group after all the years of scandal. I like they way the US church has communication programmes, websites, podcats etc to communicate with this age group rather than giving up on them.
September 5th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Mary fazey Says:
Young people seem to want to reason out their faith and so much is belief the gift we receive at baptism has to be nurtured and fed
Both my sons drifted awayone thinks I use my faith as an antidote to lifes problems
I know The Holy Spirit helps me cope thats all I ask each day
Its not easy in modern times to be a Catholic
September 29th, 2007 at 9:44 am
Maureen Says:
I am a member of the Legion of Mary in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. A few of us from Morning Star Praesidium, Annunciation of the Lord Parish in Ottawa recently attended the 49th International Eucharist Congress in Quebec City, Canada. The trip was organized for our Parish by the Knights of Columbus and we are most grateful for the Abundant Grace received at this most wonderful event in the Life of the Church. I believe that the 50th International Eucharistic which will be held in Dublin will be a magnificent source of God’s Grace for Ireland as well. We have posted some photographs that we took on our Legion website. As well there is much information on the Congress with links to many homilies and talks. There is a link to the video of Pope Benedict’s Homily in which he announced that Dublin will be hosting the next International Eucharistic Congress. Hope to see you there.
Legion of Mary website for the Senatus of Ontario Canada http://legionismariae.googlepages.com/legionofmary
God Bless,
Maureen
June 29th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Jennifer Snell Says:
I travelled to the Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City with Maureen and as she said, it was grace filled; we could really feel God’s love and His mercy. Since we both have Irish roots, and a connection to some fine Irish young people who were recently in Canada serving with NET ministeries http://www.netcanada.ca we both committed to going to Dublin in 2012. Oh yes, meeting other members of the Legion of Mary at the Eucharistic Congress in Quebec was marvelous. We sure hope to meet lots of Irish legionairies in Dublin at the next Congress.
Blessings,
Jennifer
June 30th, 2008 at 6:55 pm