Multi-Media Resources To Help Set Up Parish Evangelisation Teams

Cutting edge multi-media resources are being offered to every parish this September in support of the setting up of local evangelisation teams.

Every parish will be sent an Evangelisation DVD which has been produced by Catholic Evangelisation Services (creators of CaFE) in collaboration with the Catholic Agency to Support Evangelisation (CASE); it is titled ‘Alive in Christ – Making Mission Possible in Your Parish’. The DVD covers many areas, such as mission inside and outside the parish, to the youth, evangelisation by serving the poor and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Parishes are also being invited to send representatives to regional evangelisation training days which will take place between January – April 2009.

The release of the materials is timed to coincide with Home Mission Sunday (21st September 2008) which is a day of prayer for the spread of the Gospel in England and Wales; this year’s theme is: 'Job For Life: Equipping Parishes For Home Mission'. Parishes are invited to have an annual collection on this day to support CASE’s work as an agency of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales; the agency is part-funded by this optional collection and relies on diocesan support.

Mgr Keith Barltrop, Director of CASE, said: "It would be wonderful, if as a fruit of Home Mission Sunday, every parish felt enabled to build on what they’re already doing by taking a new and concrete step towards becoming a more evangelistic community. All we need is to be willing to make a start, to take a baby step so to speak, perhaps through attending one of the regional evangelisation training days. In faith we rely on God's generosity and power that He will show us the way and provide the opportunity and means to be effective labourers in the vineyard."    

The Gospel for the 21st is the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard (Mt 20:1-16); it provides a reminder that God calls unlikely people to the work of evangelisation at different times. Lay people, in collaboration with the clergy and religious, are very especially called to engage in this work in their daily lives and entrust to God the fruitfulness of their efforts.

The hope is that this year every member of the Catholic Community will grow in awareness that they have a job for life – to evangelise - which is both their duty but also a life-giving and freeing activity. The Church teaches that the task of evangelisation is not something which burdens but frees.

Homily notes, bidding prayers, a children's liturgy sheet, information about the latest evangelisation initiatives, the CASE newsletter and tips about how to set up a parish evangelisation team can be downloaded from www.caseresources.org.uk SMS technology will also support this year’s initiative. Type ‘TEAM’ to 81025 to receive additional help.  

David Payne, Director of Catholic Evangelisation Services, said: “This initiative has been taken in response to feedback from parishes made to both CASE and CaFE. It highlighted that whilst there is no lack of enthusiasm for home mission, many feel ill-equipped to reach out to people. We hope that the DVD, online and printed resources, and the training days that are going to be offered, will give parishioners the confidence they need to reach out to people.”

For more information please see: www.caseresources.org.uk and / or tel. (until 26th Sept): 0208 458 3316. Tel. (after 29th Sept): 0207 901 4863.

E-mail: info@caseresources.org.uk Also: http://www.faithcafe.org/