The task of evangelisation for disciples is not a new one!

The task of evangelisation for disciples is not a new one! 

Mark 16: 14-16

[But] later, as the eleven were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised.

He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.

All of us are tasked with going out and proclaiming the gospel, not to lose hope or despair but to daily engage in the task given by Christ

I was reading a post on my blog from January 2019 reflecting on the proposed diocesan plan. I wrote then:

“We could be now looking for a building to convert into a base for running the Catholic mission in Coventry. That building could then be turned into a place where six or seven priests could live with their own space. Having our own space as priests is important, we are not religious but secular priests. The support that a base like this could provide is company, strength in numbers, and a shared incarnational vision for priesthood that has the proclamation of the kingdom at its heart.” 

Since then, the urgency of addressing decline makes me wonder if it might well be too late for such ambitions.  

Priests who work in a deanery do so in different ways. Priests are sent not by talent or ability but where there is a vacancy. Priests in a deanery do not choose to work with each other therefore. Priests are working from different perspectives or understandings of ministry. It is difficult to work collectively when even the perception of what the priesthood is, is not a shared vision. Sharing a building may be the cornerstone of support, but it may well be the facility that winds each other up too. Can we work together? This is a real question and a frightening one too.

It is July 2022, decline is not giving up, renewal is still on standby, the intentional disciples are few on the horizon. The building to support the mission has not been invested in, the support not forthcoming, Corporal Jones is pacing around in the background with his familiar phrase bellowing out “Don’t Panic!” but alas the seeds have been sown….

I want a plan that will strive to support and to bolster structures in sacramental preparation, administration, outreach to the increasing poverty and need in Coventry.

Increasingly the parish feels like an ageing waiting room for the funeral rites of the parish to begin. There are older people who come and who helped in ages past, but now look around to see who is coming after them and the take up is sparse indeed. There is little interest in coming to church, in participating in its life. Those who use the church from time to time for baptism, Holy Communions, Confirmation, funerals and weddings will soon not have a building to use. There are people who come and take an interest, engaging them to go out and evangelise is a task gladly undertaken. There are green shoots of renewal and trusting in Christ is the order of the day. 

If it were just one parish experiencing this, then by all means, see how that parish can engage more with the community. It is a familiar story, congregations getting older, schools full with families all baptised, rejection of church obligations, a frustrating response to the joy of the sacraments. It could be different with a little downsizing and a collective outreach.

Baptisms are by in large, a ticket to a school place. 1^st Holy Communion is a nice dress up for the children and a party for the family, a bit of a chore for parents having to come to Mass (some of them kicking and screaming) in preparation for that one day, but once the day is over then attendance is back to what is was, non-attendance.

Then Confirmation arrives a rite of passage out of primary school and for so many, an exodus out of the church forever… until a funeral happens, or a wedding is required, or a baptism too.

“I used to come here when I was at primary school” the pupils at the Catholic secondary school tell me, barely six months since the day of their Confirmation. “It’s so boring, I have more interesting things to do now” they tell me. Its Catch 22… its boring because the heart is not engaged and over time the result is a disinterested vague nod to religion as something you read about and not something you do and engage in. After all, their parents have not come to church for years and their parents before them too. The fact is that many pupils have lapsed before they were baptised because their parents did not “keep the flame alive in their hearts” or seem to nourish that “flame of faith” in their children’s heart either.

Maybe the culture around us has changed beyond influence. Maybe the church is old fashioned, out of touch or maybe it is still a pearl of great price, a wonderful treasure, containing beauty, life and hope for the fullness of life.

But if the people are not there in church sitting on the pews, deepening a love for Christ, listening to the Holy Spirit, discerning the vocation to love, well who is going to tell them? They are not there anymore physically or spiritually. How can I judge so harshly you say, how does that hymn begin “Look around you, can you see?”

We do not do God a favour by our attending church, God abundantly blesses us when we come to church and take part by creating the prayerful conditions required within, to receive that blessing.

So firstly, more support on sacramental preparation may well be needed. A longer time of discernment. How? Working together, pooling resources from several parishes, providing a reason for the value of the sacraments for life. Helping to bring back people to faith, to a relationship with Christ.

The poverty in Coventry could be addressed by working closer together, parishes engaged in covenant projects, cross city commitments. The homeless, those in real need, refugees, social depravation. A joined-up plan involving several parishes working together identifying where and how to proclaim the kingdom together.

What do we want all these people who are baptised to do? To live out their vocations, to be challenged by the gospel, to deepen a love or Christ that compels love in return. How do we reach them now and into the future? That is the challenge that is before us now and it is an urgent challenge.