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Five million no-show Catholics are the ‘target market’ of an outreach campaign by the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
“Crossing the Threshold” is the name given to the the first stage of a national programme to help parishioners and priests reconnect friends and family.
Around a million people regularly attend mass on Sundays, but church leaders say there are many more who are baptised but do not go to church.
Bishop Kieran Conry, bishop of Arundel and Brighton, said no-shows were more likely to do with laziness and children’s extra-curricular commitments than controversies surrounding the pope or clerical sexual abuse scandals.
Conry said: “We have something we’re trying to market and we’re just reminding people there’s something that can bring you happiness, satisfaction and friendship.”
“There are probably people out there who would like to come back but don’t know how to go about it. There is a fear of standing out, of doing the wrong thing.”
Conry said it was important for those taking part to offer a personal invitation to Catholics to reconnect.
One of the first events held in York attracted around 140 people.
Topics for discussion included how to reach out to someone and how to make “small, effective gestures in parishes.”
73-year-old attendee Shelagh Preston, said “It’s important to discover why people don’t go to church, to listen. Most of they time they can’t be bothered, they’re doing other things. It’s not about hating God.
“Some people do come back and they have to be welcomed back. We’re not as good as we should be at that.”
Evangelisation was not about standing on the corner with a Bible or knocking on peoples’ doors, she added.
Sources
- The Guardian
- Image: Huffington Post
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News category: World.
