Everybody’s welcome” “

“Think big. Nothing should be prohibited when we dream of how welcoming the Church can be”, declared Father Daniel O’Leary , former episcopal vicar for Christian education in the diocese of Leeds, in his opening address to a recent conference at High Leigh in Hertfordshire dedicated to “Everybody’s welcome”, the first phase of a three-year plan launched by the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales to renew the life of Catholic families within the parishes. The plan is the response of the Bishops to “Listening 2004”, a survey in which 15,000 Catholic families declared that they felt the ideal of Catholic marriage impossible to achieve and that they did not feel welcomed within the Church. EIGHT WORK GROUPS. Responding to Father O’Leary’s appeal, the over seventy participants in the conference, coming from every diocese of England and Wales, split up into eight work groups dedicated to various difficult family situations such as disability, divorce and remarriage, youth, mental illness, homosexuality, mixed marriages, families in mourning, and Catholic families who no longer go to church. “We sought some concrete solutions that could serve for every parish in England and Wales, but we also wanted to listen to the stories of those who have so far felt excluded from the church”, explained Elizabeth Davies, in charge of the project, part of a three-year plan of the Bishops. “The results – she continued – were moving and caused moments of great emotion during the plenary session of the conference on Sunday morning”. FEELING WELCOMED. “A lesbian woman explained that for the first time in her life she was able to share her own experience with a Catholic group, reveal her true identity, and feel herself recognized for the person she is. A former mentally ill man brought tears to our eyes as he told us his private Calvary, how he had felt himself isolated within the Church while he was suffering and brought home to us that a person who looks after someone suffering from depression in conditions of isolation is a real saint in the church today”, explained Davies. CONCRETE PROPOSALS. The eight groups met together at the end of their work and came up with some concrete proposals. For those suffering from mental illness they asked for a point of contact, for a person within the parish territory who would ensure that the patient and the person looking after him, who are often unable to go to church, are able to receive communion and the sacraments. More activities were proposed for youth, such as sport, pilgrimages and music. For this age group, it was acknowledged, little provision is made in parishes and many Catholic parents fear that their adolescent children will drop out of the Church, thus thwarting their efforts to give them a religious education. For those who have suffered the loss of a loved one and are struggling to come to terms with the death of a family member, a husband or wife, the conference asked for more social opportunities, lunches with other parishioners, occasions to make new friends and also a directory of persons to whom those in need can turn for practical help such as home care. The group that discussed homosexuality recommended the presence of a priest in every diocese to whom gays and lesbians could turn for their spiritual needs. A short description of the problems and needs of these various groups “on the fringes” of the Church and possible practical solutions will be inserted in a flyer to be distributed in the various dioceses. But before this project gets off the ground the approval of the department for Christian responsibility and citizenship and of the Bishops’ Conference is first needed. PRAYER AS A RESPONSE. The prayers of the faithful were repeatedly identified as one way to give identity and voice to those suffering from problems of exclusion. “Recognise your power, the power of determined hearts”: that was the message of the bishop of Southwark John Hine in the sermon he gave at the end of the conference. “Today people are highly conditioned by how they feel. A warm welcome is very important. Your work here is the beginning of something enormous that could bring great changes to our church. It is the heart of the Gospel message and though its success depends on God, we must do all in our power to ensure it comes to fruition. I will do my bit, but you too must recognise your own power to turn all this into a reality”. The next two phases of the Catholic Bishops’ three-year plan for families are “Home is a holy place”, on the role of families and their spiritual importance for the Church, and “Passing on the faith”, on the importance of parents and grandparents in transmitting the faith to children.