Dear Fellow Parishioners, Being followers of Jesus Christ, we are all called by Him to be ‘stewards of the Gospel’, proclaiming His ‘Good News’ by word and deed! How best can we do this? Our bishop, Bishop Alan, has recently launched throughout the Diocese the ‘Stewards of the Gospel’ initiative, inviting us to discern and determine our response to this calling. All parishioners are urged to contribute to the outcomes of this consultation intended to help steer the work of our parish and Diocese for the foreseeable future! To guide discussion, the Diocese has provided the ‘Stewards of the Gospel’ Parish Questionnaire’; every parish is requested to respond to the Diocese using this Parish Questionnaire (by December!), having sounded out as far as possible the views and considered opinions of its parishioners.
The ‘Questionnaire’ has three sections: Section A is akin to an ‘audit’ of the parish and its resources: Section B poses searching questions for parishioners to engage with and is the real ‘heart’ of this ‘Stewards of the Gospel’ initiative; Section C will be the summary of the parish’s suggestions and conclusions. The ‘Parish Questionnaire’ is now available on the parish website www.lourdesleigh.org. Two requests!! First, I have filled in parts of Section A – if there are mistakes or there is further information you can provide do please let me know on 01702 552373 or obrjam@btinternet.com. Secondly, to address Section B we are arranging two ‘workshops’, to be held in the Parish Centre from 2.00-4.00pm on both Saturday 5th November and Saturday 19th November. Please note these dates – if you are able to join us please let Jan know on 01702 478105/janlewis123@btinternet.com. For parishioners unable to attend, we hope you will respond to a short questionnaire which will be made available to you in a forthcoming Parish Newsletter! Please pray for a fruitful outcome to this endeavour! Thank you for your support! Francis O’Brien.