With the non-practising

It’s estimated that around 4 to 5 million baptized Catholics in England and Wales are non-churchgoing Catholics. To them, the so-called “lapsed Catholics”, considered a priority in terms of evangelization, by practising Catholics, the Bishops’ Conference will dedicate 5 brief conferences titled “Crossing the threshold. Ministry and outreach to non going Catholics”, that will be held from November 2011 to June 2012 across the United Kingdom. These days aim at helping churchgoers and provide assistance to those who abandoned the Church. On the new initiative we interviewed Clare Ward, in charge of the “home mission desk”, which is part of the department for Catechesis of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.When and where will the five days take place? “The first will take place in York, starting next November 12. The bishop of Middlesbrough, Terence Drainey, will take part in the event dedicated to shrines and pilgrimages, which abound in this dioceses, since non-practising Catholics often attend places of worship. We expect some 150 Parish representatives whom will be formed to outreach non-churchgoing faithful. This is the same purpose of the encounter scheduled on February 4 in Birmingham, on which will intervene archbishop Bernard Longley and bishop Edwin Regan. Bishop Kieran Conry and the archbishop of Southwark Peter Smith will take part in the event in South England, on March 3rd, in Crawley. Catholic primate Vincent Nichols will deliver his speech on April 28, in Westminster,, while on June 23rd the archbishop George Stack will be in Cardiff”.How will the days be organized?“They will focus on three themes which gain major importance when it comes to reaching out to non Catholics, namely, how to contact them, how to make them feel they are welcomed by the Church, how to bring them close to the sacrament of reconciliation, and how to reach out to them when they are involved in volunteering for weak social brackets. For example, a very efficient system is to meet them at home instead of sending letters. It’s also important to create dedicated parish groups, providing the opportunity to address the problems linked to their specific situation. Often these Catholics do a lot for the poor in Caritas networks even if they don’t go to Church and this is an area where it is possible to reach out to them”.Where does this initiative stem from?“The Bishops’ Conference has decided to create a group that will be in charge of non-churchgoers. I work in conjunction with parishes and dioceses, and it clearly emerged, during our meetings, that ‘lapsed Catholics’ are a priority, in terms of mission, for all those who practice and support the parish church. They are also the objective of the new evangelisation the Pope speaks of. Twelve representatives of associations such as ‘Landings UK’, ‘Kit’ and ‘Catholic Alfa’, in charge of evangelisation, the ‘National Commission of Catholic Women’, the “Mary Vale Institute of Birmingham, and others from dioceses that are especially committed in this area, such as the diocese of Portsmouth, Hexham and Newcastle, along with the archdiocese of Suffolk, were part of the team”. What has the “central group” done? “The ‘central group’ has organized a day, past March, attended by some 90 people, representing 19 dioceses, along with three bishops: Kieran Conry, in charge of evangelization and catechesis, bishop Edwin Regan and bishop Richard Moth, Army chaplain. On that occasion the most significant speech was delivered by Christopher Jamison, a Benedictine monk, ex abbot of Worth, featured in the BBC 2 series ‘The Monastery.’ Fr Jamison is in charge of the national vocations office. On that occasion we identified three major themes of mission to non-Catholics. We also have a website illustrating our commitment: www.catholic-ew.org.uk/Catholic-Church/Home-Mission/Non-Churchgoing-Catholics. Some of the resources for parishes are already available online, the rest will be posted in the coming days”.