Dear Friends in Christ

The Gospels of these initial weeks of Ordinary Time present us with a rich plan and programme for the work of evangelisation. This is the essential work of the Church and we all exist as part of Her so that we can bring others into this Mystery of Christ and His Church. I think it is fair to say that this is something which every single Catholic finds challenging and there are so many ways that we can go about it. In essence it means, like those first disciples of Christ, meeting Jesus, hearing Him and moving-in with Him. Jesus, through His Church, wants everyone to come to the knowledge of God and be saved. This is something that I would like us to reflect on during 2018. At the Parish Council Meeting last Thursday, we discussed a plan for the Parish in which we hope to increase our sense of discipleship; grow in prayer/spiritual life; increase devotion to Jesus the Blessed Sacrament and Mass; attain an attitude of conviction and authenticity in our Parish Family witnessing to our Faith; move from a feeling of inhibition regarding faith to a feeling of freedom and confidence. This can happen in a two-pronged way: internal evangelisation, which consists of evangelising parishioners, regular and occasional Mass attenders, so as to become confident and intentional disciples of Jesus Christ. We intend to achieve this by forming a core group of focused & knowledgeable parishioners to run regular events aimed at various different areas of faith formation. Using the Parish feedback gained from the Stewards of the Gospel initiative, we can immediately identify areas that require immediate attention. We also hope to ensure that we have a team of catechists working in the Parish who are committed and intentional disciples of Christ and can then influence every area of parish evangelisation in an orthodox, informed and intentional way that will foster a deeper knowledge of the faith across the various stages of spiritual development and allow you to have greater confidence in the work being carried out in your parish community.

External evangelisation consists of outreach and faith formation for those who do not yet know Christ through different approaches. I hope over the coming months some of this will become clearer in reality but above all we pray for that we all become more faithful and intentional disciples of Jesus Christ.

God bless you all!
Msgr Kevin Hale