1ST ADDRESS: BISHOP NICHOLAS HUDSON
“A week ago, I was on Lake Galilee! I had the joy of accompanying pilgrims from this Diocese
for some ten days following in the footsteps of Jesus. I asked them if they would join me in
offering our pilgrimage for Proclaim. This they were very glad to do. We often prayed for the
success of this day, for those who would come; and tried our best to give it over to the Lord.
There were moments when the connection seemed dramatic – like when we found ourselves
on Galilee and recalled Jesus getting into the boat of Simon Peter, saying, “Put out into the
deep!”
We recalled how, two thousand years later, Peter’s successor made that cry his own. St John
Paul II summoned in the new millennium by saying, “Put out into the deep!”. This Diocese
responded generously with At Your Word, Lord. It really was a labour of love; and we continue
to reap the rewards of that work. The hundreds of Small Communities nurturing faith around
the diocese are one of the fruits; as is the Caritas programme Love in Action. Anyway, as we
know, Peter’s successor, Francis then summoned the Church to a renewal of its evangelising
outreach, publishing Evangelii Gaudium, in which he said we must now “embark upon a new
chapter of evangelisation ... pointing out new paths for the Church’s journey in years to
come.” (EG 1) “Rethink the goals, structures, styles and methods of evangelisation in your
respective communities,” (EG 33), he said.
This time last year, the Cardinal and I brought together groups of clergy in different parts of
the Diocese to launch a process which would do just that. I suggested that the place to begin
was by acknowledging just how much evangelising activity already takes place. Because no
one’s suggesting there isn’t a great deal going on already. “The Church exists in order to
evangelise” as Pope Paul VI put it; and we’ve been at it for centuries. But Pope Francis – who
is always challenging (someone said to me recently, “Is there anyone who hasn’t been
challenged by Pope Francis?!”) – wants us to ask ourselves if we might not go deeper.
So I suggested to parishes that the place to begin is by first taking stock; ask themselves what
they do well already. Acknowledge all that is good and enriching about your parish; all the
ways the parish does evangelise. But then have the courage to say, “But aren’t there ways in
which we could go still deeper?” And it occurred to me, it’s about making the rich young
man’s question our own: “What more must we do, Lord?” What more may the Lord be calling
our parish to do?
Four headings were suggested under which parishes might review their evangelising activity:
they were Prayer, Caritas, Faith Formation, Marriage & Family Life. Simply to ask themselves:
if, for instance, prayer is our parish’s gift, then could we deepen the parish’s prayer life and
somehow un-tap its evangelising potential? For instance, our Masses may be good but we
may have lost sight of popular piety. Do we need to invest more resources in Children’s
Liturgy of the Word and Masses for Young People? Ask yourselves what you do well; and
what more, in the light of Evangelii Gaudium, the Lord may be asking of you.
Ask yourselves the same questions with regard to what you do in the parish under the
headings of Caritas, of Faith Formation, of Marriage & Family Life. Taking Caritas as an
example, your parish may be strong in its care for the elderly, in organising food for the hungry
but may have given little energy to the inclusion of people with disabilities, to catechesis for
people with learning disabilities, to access for those who are physically disabled. Take stock.
Ask yourselves what you do well; and what more, in the light of Evangelii Gaudium, the Lord
may be asking of you.
To these four categories - of Prayer, Caritas, of Faith Formation, of Marriage & Family Life – I
suggested we add a fifth, namely, New Pastoral Priorities. This was included because we were
aware there may be a few parishes who were feeling the time was right for them actually to
identify some major new Pastoral Priority for evangelisation which didn’t exactly fit within
these four categories: it might be to start a Welcoming Team or a Young Adults Group; to
explore the possibilities of launching Faith & Light or Night Fever; and we didn’t want to
exclude such potentially evangelising initiatives.
Meanwhile, the Bishops’ Conference was launching Proclaim. It was an idea which
germinated in the hearts and minds of those belonging to the Department for Evangelisation
and Catechesis. But it was the Home Mission Desk, led by Clare Ward, which was charged
with realising the vision. I’m delighted that Clare can be with us today. To prepare the ground
for Proclaim, the Home Mission Desk had piloted a programme called “Crossing the
Threshold”. This has the specific aim of evangelising non-churchgoing Catholics. The vision
underpinning the whole Proclaim process was to “Build Missionary Parishes”. It was clear we
were singing from the same hymn-sheet; and that we should support the Proclaim process;
also that the Proclaim process had all the potential to help us “go deeper” as a Diocese in the
way Pope Francis was calling us to.
The Proclaim process began by bringing parishioners together in small groups to work through
Evangelisation materials. These Proclaim Preparatory Materials were designed to help
parishioners begin to share thoughts about the meaning of Evangelisation; and to start
thinking of possible evangelising initiatives. One helpful question which emerged from those
sessions was when a few people asked, “What exactly do we mean by Evangelisation?” I
would stress that everyone is entitled to their own way of expressing of it. But it seemed to
help people to suggest that “Evangelisation is at heart about the communication of a
relationship, a relationship with Christ – in word and deed and in such a way that causes
people to ask, “Who is this Jesus whom you love and worship?’.” “Evangelisation is at heart
about the communication of a relationship, a relationship with Christ – in word and deed and
in such a way that causes people to ask, “Who is this Jesus whom you love and worship?’.”
We also asked ourselves in those sessions how we’re to understand the New Evangelisation
of which Popes have been speaking since the time of St John Paul II. I suggested that what is
new about this latest chapter of Evangelisation is simply its urgency; and the need to give our
Evangelisation a renewed energy, a renewed focus, a renewed impetus and a new drive: new
in ardour, new in methods and new in its expressions, as St John Paul II put it. Hence the call
of Evangelii Gaudium to “rethink the goals, structures, styles and methods of evangelisation
in your respective communities,” (EG 33) with a view to discovering “new paths for the
Church’s journey in years to come.” (EG 1)
The Proclaim Preparatory materials were helping put words on Evangelisation. I do believe
those discussions sowed the seeds of many possible evangelising initiatives. In the light of
these discussions, some parishes set up Parish Evangelisation Teams. Most parishes chose,
as they were told they could, to wait and see what came out of Proclaim ’15.
And so Proclaim ’15 happened. We sent fifty Representatives of this Diocese; and they are
all here today. Twenty-three of them were the Reps chosen by your clergy. Others
represented different diocesan agencies: Evangelisation, Marriage & Family Life, the
Education Service, Caritas, St Joseph’s Hendon, the Deaf Service, Finance, Council of Priests,
Cathedral Chapter, to name just a few They joined in Birmingham 800 others from every
Diocese in England and Wales. They heard keynote addresses from the Cardinal, from
Archbishop Longley, from Michelle Moran; and an interview with the Reverend Nicky Gumbel.
Each participant attended three different workshops on different aspects of Evangelisation –
there was a choice of eleven, ranging from Evangelising Young People to Evangelising the
Unchurched. Fiona Mansford led one of those workshops - on Sharing Your Testimony in
One-to-One Evangelisation; and I’m delighted to say she’s here with us today to give us a taste
of what she did in Birmingham. Clare Ward is going to tell us what was presented in the
workshop on Evangelising non-churchgoing Catholics.
The whole event was compered by David Wells; and we are so grateful to him for agreeing to
be our compere here today as well. He will shortly be giving us an overview of Proclaim ’15
by showing us how to navigate our way round the riches contained in the Proclaim Legacy
Resource. If you want to hear from someone who was there what the Conference was like,
you should have someone on your table who attended. Because our fifty tables are each
hosted by a Proclaim Rep.
Meanwhile, as the preparations for Proclaim ’15 were taking shape, Pope Francis had another
inspiration. That was to call a Year of Mercy. Immediately, it was clear what a gift this was
to the whole Proclaim initiative. The Cardinal will be saying more about this when he speaks
to us before lunch. Suffice to say at this stage, it’s clear to me that calling for a Year of Mercy
gives us a providential lens through which to filter all the different initiatives we’ve been
considering over the last year. I think this is especially true of the Corporal Works of Mercy,
ranging as they do - from feeding the hungry to welcoming the stranger - and the Spiritual
Works - which range from instructing to comforting and so much in between. I believe that
concentrating our attention on these Works of Mercy will serve as a lens which doesn’t limit
but rather sharpens our focus. But more of that later.
What we’re about today is not to decide but to brainstorm. We’re going to listen to what was
given at Proclaim ‘15; see how much of that we think could be harnessed to Evangelisation in
our own parishes here in Westminster. We shall see what light Mercy throws on all of this.
Then we shall ask ourselves what evangelising initiatives suggest themselves to us. We shall
finish by considering once again those five categories; and ask ourselves where these possible
initiatives fall – under Prayer, Caritas, Faith Formation, Marriage & Family Life, or new
Evangelising Priorities.
It will be for you to take back to your parish the ideas which have suggested themselves to
you today; and allow them to inform that continuing process of asking: What do we do well
already? What more may the Lord be asking us to do in the light of Evangelii Gaudium? That’s
the main thing we will be asking of you today: to take back to your parish the ideas for
Evangelisation which have suggested themselves to you today. The other thing we shall be
asking of you is for each parish, between now and January, to create Evangelisation teams.
Clare and David will be explaining what that entails when they give us half an hour on that
very topic: Creating Evangelisation Teams. But you’re going to hear lots and lots of different
ideas: if you’re a jotter, I’d recommend you jot them all down.
I’d like just to finish with an observation by Pope Francis which seems particularly pertinent
for us today. He kindly warned us against complacency! It’s not to suggest we are
complacent. But it’s interesting to hear him say, “Pastoral ministry in a missionary key seeks
to abandon the complacent attitude that says, ‘We have always done it this way’.” And he
goes on to say, “A proposal of goals without an adequate communal search for the means of
achieving them will inevitably prove illusory … The important thing is not to walk alone to but
to rely on each other as brothers and sisters, and especially under the leadership of the
bishops, in a wise and pastoral discernment.”
I’d like to suggest that it’s in just this spirit that we gather here this morning. We’ve come
together with our brothers and sisters from across the Diocese, under the leadership of our
bishops, hoping a shared discernment will empower us to be bold and creative in rethinking
our evangelising priorities at the local level. It warms my heart as I hope it warms yours too
to be reminded by the Holy Father that what we proclaim is, in essence, a love. Quoting John
the Beloved Disciple, Pope Francis says, “We speak of what we have seen and heard.” (I Jn 1,
3) And Pope Francis leaves us with a promise to ponder: as the Lord worked with those who
first went forth in his name, he will not deprive us either “of the help we need to carry out
the mission which he has entrusted to us.” (EG 275) With such reassurances we embark on
this day together.
The journey we shall take together might best be summarised as follows:
OBJECTIVES OF THE EVENT
TO BUILD MISSIONARY PARISHES
Recall the Diocesan Vision of Evangelisation
Explain the content of the Legacy Document
Explain how the Year of Mercy informs the choice of Parish Evangelising Initiatives
Explain how to create a Parish Evangelisation Team
Brainstorm Evangelising Initiatives
Explain the timetable for creating a Parish Evangelisation Team and choosing Evangelising
Initiatives
POSSIBLE KEY OUTCOMES
SHARE THE VISION: For parish representatives to offer follow up to the event in their parish
CREATE TEAMS: For an Evangelisation Teams to be created in every parish
CHOOSE AND PLAN: For Evangelisation Teams to choose 3 Evangelising Initiatives for the
future.