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Evangelisation needs to take place where the people are. Doing so is succeeding beyond a UK archdiocese’s wildest expectations.
The new “Some Definite Service” programme is working, say Catholics in the Southwark archdiocese.
They say the programme is behind the 450 adults who completed the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) course this year.
They also assert the programme is behind the 164 percent increase in RCIA candidates since last year, the highest figure since 2015.
The new programme encapsulates Archbishop John Wilson’s vision of Southwark being a “missionary and evangelising archdiocese” says the archdiocese’s Agency for Evangelisation and Catechesis.
Agency director Mark Nash says the programme focuses on “evangelisation, catechesis and formation supported by local people, plans and prayer”.
A place of invitation
The Some Definite Service programme aims to create “a missionary volunteer network” Nash says.
The programme has two parts to it, he explains. It aims to establish a new structure within the archdiocese. It also aims to inculcate a new language.
Nash says one example is “intentional accompaniment”.
This is “an overarching way of behaving, which has at its heart the willingness to aid the growth of another person and through them, the growth of others”.
Another example is “active listening”.
“I think that’s been a fundamental shift, actually. People are talking a lot more about the need to evangelise.”
Instead of working alone or in small groups, they’re being connected with one another. Each has a distinctive role to play in God’s “great work” he says.
Support crucial
Participants have an extensive support system, which is crucial to the programme’s success.
Instead of organisers creating a structure and objectives, then relying on individual initiative to accomplish a complex goal, Southwark’s volunteers have a network to call on.
They are part of a wider team and know where to get help.
“There’s a quite a bit of commitment on the part of the archdiocese and also the archbishop, because they have invested … all the resources necessary. They’re a phone call away” one volunteers says.
It is very transformative. “The parishes are coming alive.”
Greater cohesion
The team overseeing Some Definite Service is clear about what it wants from parishes, given many parishioners are overburdened.
“We want each parish to develop a parish plan that can be refined over time” Nash says.
He says the team also want parishes to select three parish leads — one each for evangelisation, catechesis and formation.
“We’re also asking them to pray.”
Although the programme is still being developed, growth is ongoing.
“The single biggest thing is actually articulating and offering them [parishioners] something of a vision.
“Something that’s expectant, something that’s inspired.
“I think people will commit to something for a very short period of time if they feel as though they have to do it.
“But they are willing to commit themselves generously if they see something as being fundamentally worthwhile.”
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