Parishes with open doors

In his apostolic exhortation, "Evangelii gaudium", Pope Francis invited every community to discern the path of evangelization for our contemporary societies. The English Church replied with a project which in the parish church of St. Mary’s on the Sea, in Grimsby, doubled the number of faithful at Easter Mass. Suggestions and materials for evangelization have been handed out also in other parishes, in England and Wales, ahead of the Mission Sunday that this year will be held on September 21 with the theme "Evangelization… in the heart of the family." The promoters of the initiative, the bishop for catechesis Kieran Conry, the coordinator for evangelization Clare Ward, the parish priest of St. Mary’s on the Sea, Fr Joe Wheat and Dr. Ann Casson, presented the project on September 11 at the seat of the Bishops’ Conference in London. The fatigue of returning. "We knew that many Catholics don’t go to Mass on Sundays and we wanted to know why", said the bishop for evangelization Monsignor Kieran Conry. "Often there are no specific reasons. Unfortunately, once they draw apart, they find it hard to return. People are afraid to return to a church they have not attended for several months. They feel embarrassed, singled out, and they don’t know what to do." "With our project, called ‘Crossing the threshold’, we wished to give parishioners the confidence they need to reach out to distant Catholics, making the church a welcoming place", continued Monsignor Conry. "We didn’t care how many of them would return, all we wanted was for them to know that they are always welcome." Personal relations count. "Personal relations are the key", continued Clare Ward, who coordinated the project of the Bishops’ Conference in 5 parishes of Lincolnshire and in Nottingham’s cathedral. "Catholics that attend church service should feel they have enough confidence, within themselves, to attract those Catholic that grew distant." "Occasions have been simple circumstances, the small things of everyday life, in the tradition of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus", continued Clare Ward. "Nottingham’s cathedral has decided to open its doors, in the evening, for the adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament. The increase in the number of faithful in many parishes has been of 100%. For us from the evangelization department it has been an important opportunity to learn how to reach out to those who got lost along the way. Each parish church taking part in the project was offered 600 pounds from the bishops’ Conference." Grimsby doubles the amount. The Parish of St. Mary on the Sea in Grimsby counted how many faithful have returned to their homes, in the fourth poorest area of England, with twice as many faithful attending Easter Sunday Mass. "We have obtained this result after inviting families with children to take part in drawing and crafts activities at Easter, painting Easter eggs and creating Easter hats. We were expecting some twenty people but only 80 arrived", said the parish priest, Fr Joe Wheat. "At Easter we advertised the candle-lit midnight Mass on the parish magazine and on the front pages of the local newspaper and the faithful increased by 50%. Every Mass faithful arrived distributing service sheets and the book of chants to church attendants, ready to answer all the questions of those who are not familiar with the church", said Fr Wheat. Not a question of numbers. "For Easter we organized a Christian witness walk on Good Friday, across the city. We expected few people to come, instead it was a large group. We arrived at the centre of the city, recited a prayer and distributed several hundred vouchers to get a cup of tea and a piece of cake in the coffee shop near by", continued St. Mary’s parish priest. "We’re reluctant to identify success with the number of people attending Sunday Mass", Wheat continued. "What we wanted was not to bring them back to church at all costs but to make them feel that the parish continued being there for them and that they hadn’t lost contacts with it." Indeed, the priest said, also an occasional relationship with the church is very significant. An enriched life. "Even those who don’t always go to Mass are Catholic", said Dr Ann Casson in the second part of the project presented in London. The scholar personally interviewed 39 parents of children attending Catholic schools who are not practising Catholics, along with 107 people through a questionnaire. "Even though these people attend Mass only occasionally, they feel that their lives are enriched by Catholic faith and they are yearning to send their children to a school that may communicate their faith."