Compiled by Maggie Beirne & Hilda McCafferty

In response to the request to feed into parishes and deaneries for the next stage of the synodal process, some fifteen or so justice and peace activists from across the Westminster diocese gathered virtually on Zoom to discuss MISSION and FORMATION on Tuesday 28th February, 7.30-9.00pm.

Opening Prayer

We stand before You, Holy Spirit, as we gather together in Your name.  With You alone to guide us, make Yourself at home in our hearts; teach us the way we must go and how we are to pursue it.  We are weak and sinful; do not let us promote disorder.  Do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path nor partiality influence our actions.   Let us find in You our unity so that we may journey together to eternal life and not stray from the way of truth and what is right.  All this we ask of You, who are at work in every place and time, in the communion of the Father and the Son, forever and ever. Amen

After the Synodal Prayer

Those present tried to listen to what the Holy Spirit was saying to us individually and together as a group.

1. The first half of our meeting explored the theme – OUR MISSION

 How do we witness as a parish and proclaim our faith to those who have never heard of Christ; to those who have ceased walking with Him; and with those who come to church?  And how should we organise ourselves as parishes to do this more effectively?

The mission of the Church as People of God is described in the catechism as being “the salt of the earth and the light of the world; this People is the most sure seed of unity hope and salvation for the whole human race” to what extent are we achieving this or failing to do so?  One person quoted Paul VI “modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than teachers and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses”.  Or, according to James (2.18): “I will show thee my faith by my works”.  Accordingly, practically living out our commitment to justice and peace are central to witnessing to our faith and we have a responsibility to get across the message that we are all called to be witnesses.  Sometimes something as simple as wearing a cross and chain can be active witness. 

Many of those present cited ways in which their parishes are currently witnessing to their faith and proclaiming that faith to others in the community – whether active in the parish, or ‘lapsed’, or those who were never part of the community.  For those parishes who have one, the parish hall can prove a fantastic resource which becomes a central community hub – for believers and unbelievers alike – drawing in local people who see it as ‘theirs’ as they partake in shared events.  In this way, some have even on occasion signed up for RCIA.  Many talked of the wider community events engaged in by their parishes – local Foodbanks, inter-faith outreach, carol concerts, parish picnics – all aimed at building up a sense of community and welcome.  Others talked of the importance of welcoming ‘newcomers’ or ‘returners’ or ‘visitors’ to church – some parishes have ‘welcomers’ (especially young people) to ensure that people feel welcomed and ‘reached out to’.  In one parish they actively contacted former parishioners who were no longer attending since lockdown, to see how they were, check on any access issues and informed them of events happening.  Yet others talked of the importance of communication including social media – Facebook, parish newsletters, Twitter/X etc etc – as a way of getting their message out beyond ‘Sunday Mass’ – to the housebound, to people passing by the church building on the high street etc.

One contributor noted that we witness to our faith by just being there: alongside the marginalised and dispossessed and sick, just as Jesus was.  However, sometimes this may be seen as too ‘political’ – which raised questions for the later ‘formation’ segment. Another agreed that witnessing to our faith is in part about WHAT gets done, but also HOW it is done – as people of faith, we offer something more than the community resource that others may provide – by according dignity and respect to all with whom we engage, the quality of our welcome and inclusiveness can convey Christ’s love in a unique way.

Another welcomed any efforts to proclaim “we are here” – make the church building itself attractive with doors open and providing a visible presence of living faith in the area. Another point made was showing our inclusiveness when people can see others like themselves visible in the church and participating in church activities e.g. the presence of female servers on the altar.

Yet someone else referred to the importance of making more visible justice and peace issues in the life of the parish – and the importance of education.  Again an issue for the later formation discussion – how do we tackle root causes of injustice? How do we move with the times? How do we help people address issues such as Artificial Intelligence (the topic of the Pope’s Peace Sunday message this year), the arms trade, and how our taxes are being spent?

Several people spoke of the vibrancy of their own parishes in reaching out beyond Sunday Mass participants – as well as the challenges of diversity, language barriers etc. – in forging a strong sense of community.  And some spoke of the need to “go out into the world” – participation in inter-church events like the Walk of Witness on Good Friday; or bread and soup lunches and social activities which bring people in.  In areas where there are many people wanting to go to Mass, but unable to get there unaided, some volunteers offer car-rides or just assistance with wheelchairs – an offer, whether taken up or not, is greatly appreciated as a message of outreach and love to those otherwise largely housebound.  The question is surely “how do we bring Christ to people”?  It was also emphasised that covid had led to many ‘old’ systems breaking down – Readers/Eucharistic Ministers etc. not returning to their previous roles …..has enough been done to reach out to them and encourage them to realise how needed they are?

A lot of concern was expressed about the need to engage our children and young people – are we doing enough to appeal to young people?  Some distribute prayer cards; others organise coffee mornings at which young people are encouraged to play an active role; some find that music (of all kinds) can offer a transcendent experience – for parishioners of all ages. If Christ is at the centre of our mission, how do we make our prayer and our liturgies ever more powerful.  One parish offers a ‘Landings’ programme which creates a culture of welcome and allows people to tell their stories about why they have been away from the Church.  Nothing can beat the ‘human touch’ – having people welcome visitors, have the clergy available after Mass, have Parish Council members visible and available, and alerting the parish to the outreach work being done ‘in their name’ with homeless or whatever, so as to draw them actively into this work.

2. The second half of the meeting explored OUR FORMATION

 What formation do we need to witness our faith ever more effectively?  What structures may need to change and what organisation is needed to promote opportunities for formation?

Some of this debate had already been flagged earlier – why is justice and peace work sometimes seen as ‘political’ and therefore controversial?  What can be done to counter this?  In practical terms, how do we learn to tackle the root causes of injustice, and not be satisfied with offering ‘band-aid’ relief?

One contributor emphasised the importance of all formation being sustainable and of the whole parish having a clarity of mission, and the role of each individual in delivering on that mission.  Leadership formation is vital – to help create and sustain a sense of community and so that everyone knows they have a role to play.  Leadership training is vital for the clergy but also for leaders of the various parish groups – Readers, Catechists etc – leadership needs to be ‘owned’ by many many people. We must not forget the contribution of other Catholic groups working in our parish e.g. SVP, Legion of Mary, CAFOD, Caritas to our delivering our mission. We need formation in communicating our message – do we know enough about, and do we share what we know, about Catholic Social Teaching and the scriptural basis for all our efforts.  Another participant agreed that we need formation for everyone, and it needs to be ongoing.  We should be taking every opportunity to help people see the problems of the visible world, but also to know that we are reaching beyond that world to the invisible world, and that we are all on that journey of faith together.  Schools cannot do it all, nor can parishes, so individuals much be asked WHAT do they believe and WHY.  Have we thought through our answers to the world’s questions – questions such as “if you say God is a loving God, how is there such evil in the world?”  or “People can behave virtuously without a belief in God, so why do you ‘need’ God?”.  People needs succinct and non-abstract (or overly theological) answers to these questions.  Maybe we should all be mentioning our faith much more, and explaining why it is our faith that motivates us engage in trying to make this a better world?  We certainly need to use every tool available to us to ‘form’ ourselves and others – homilies, parish newsletters, catechist and other formal courses….

One participant noted that the Established (Anglican) church treats every single person living within their parish boundaries as a ‘parishioner’ – whereas Catholics tend to think of parishioners as those who regularly attend church.  Maybe we need a change in mindset?  One good news item is that Catholic Social Teaching is now being routinely taught to children and young people in schools – so it may be that we need to work out ways in which older adults can ‘catch up’! 

As several people had spoken of the concern that we were losing (or failing to adequately involve) young people – many of the comments alluded in particular to this ‘missing’ constituency. How do we pass on the Faith to the next generation – particularly if they don’t go to a Catholic school. So young people seek both relevance and authenticity – in which case, the best way to ‘form’ them is to involve them in active service to others.   Confirmation candidates helping out at the local Foodbank; as ‘welcomers’ to the parish; taking part in some of the ‘routine’ roles (cleaning, reading, etc) so that they are a visible part of the church community etc.  They after all should be trained to be “Ambassadors for Christ”.  One parish noted that their young people were very proud to be seen helping out at Mass, and social events, and look forward to playing an active role.  Another parish reported the very positive experience of having a youth worker in the parish – resulting in very visible results in terms of the engagement of younger parishioners.  Can parishes share some of this kind of resource?  Sometimes we rely on the Catholic school system to pass on the faith – but many children cannot attend Catholic schools, and if we don’t accompany all our young people, we will lose them.

Several mentioned the importance of an online presence too – for young people as well as others.  We need to show that we are Christians by our love – maybe some of us need to engage in ‘Catholic Twitter’?  There are also a range of opportunities – such as FLAME (next due in 2025); youth pilgrimages; Million Minutes, World Youth Day – which can be used to form the next generations – to bring them to the ‘mountain top’ and gain positive experiences of working for social justice and witnessing to their faith.  In a reiteration of the earlier point about young people looking for “relevance” and “authenticity”, someone said young people are looking for opportunities to DO and to BE – to grow through action. Accordingly, the challenge is not so much on young people, but what the whole parish is doing to really reach out to them, and engage them fully in the life of the community?

Others talked of the value of developing a consensus on formation and training within the parish so that everyone can feel involved and so that their diverse talents can be put to best use.  Engaging people through volunteering is often a good way in to helping them nurture their relationship with God.  We also need to be creative about the diversity of the parish community: for example, homilies consistently addressed at families, or married couples, can make single people feel like outsiders.  Formation would also help in developing inter-faith outreach.  Small “At Your Word Lord” and other house groups have proved very powerful in some parishes in building up strong ties and helping people explore their faith together in a ‘safe space’.  This also led one contributor to talk of the value of having our views challenged – some Catholics think they absolutely KNOW what God want us to do – and it is good to expand and develop our faith.  After all ‘faith’ and ‘religion’ can be different and it is useful to tease out such differences and expand and deepen our understanding in so doing.  As Catholics we often tend, like the Gospel story, to bury our talents in the sand, when we should be ‘spending’ our talents generously and sharing them with excitement.

Another participant said that leadership formation is needed by the clergy but is currently under-resourced; and there is also a need for more formation in the synodal process itself – how do we encourage each other to listen more?    How do we help mentor each other and promote an ongoing formation, involving both clergy and laity?  One participant noted that the clergy needs a real support network if they are to provide leadership in their communities and parish clergy also need support from the hierarchy.  We should be using the many opportunities that already exist (eg preparation for the Sacraments) to reach out not only to the young people themselves, but to whole families.  Once people are already drawn in for something specific, they are more likely to listen to further opportunities for formation.

Next Steps – Deans Meeting on 6th March 2024

As a next step for the Diocese of Westminster, the Deans have been asked to gather the fruit of all the parish reflections in the Diocese for presentation at the Council of Deans meeting on 6th March. This extended meeting will include two lay or religious representatives for every Deanery.

A meeting for the whole Diocese is envisaged after Easter.