Bishop Mark O’Toole of Plymouth has called on every Catholic in his diocese to be a “disciple-making disciple”.
In a pastoral message, the bishop noted that less than one per cent of the population in the region were church-going Catholics. This, he said, was “something akin to the percentages in countries like Pakistan or Myanmar [Burma]. So we are very much in mission territory.”
Bishop O’Toole pointed out that the number of Mass-goers in Cornwall, Devon and Dorset has nearly halved over the last 30 years, from 27,000 to 14,000. He said that, while people speak of a “crisis of priests”, he sees a “crisis of disciples”.
He said: “Pope Francis speaks of being ‘missionary disciples’; each of us staying close to Jesus and deepening our love of Him, and at the same time, going out to others that they may come to follow Him, too.
“Each of us is called to be a ‘disciple-making disciple’. Further, a local church which is not making disciples is failing in a fundamental aspect of its life,” he said.
Bishop O’Toole stressed that evangelisation was not primarily about numbers. “Our motivation is that we love Jesus and we want others to know the beauty of His friendship and His love,” he said.
He listed eight traits of an “evangelising parish”: prayer, vision, an evangelising team, the Eucharist, loving service, rigorous adult formation, small groups and missionary zeal.
By vision, the bishop said, he meant the “primary proclamation”, explaining: “I come back again and again to what Pope Francis says in Evangelii Gaudium: “The first proclamation must ring out over and over: ‘Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his life to save you; and now he is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free you.’”
Evangelisation, the bishop said, was something “every Catholic is called to do”. But he said he was “delighted” that there were now 38 evangelisation teams involving 500 people across the diocese.
The Eucharist, he said, was a “vital path for making disciples”.
“It is itself evangelising. It is there that we breathe the fresh air of the divine presence and are healed of our wounds,” he said. The bishop urged Catholics to be “self-critical” about “what it’s like to come to our church. What is our liturgy, the celebration of Mass, like?”
The South West region – covering the dioceses of Plymouth and Clifton – has the lowest proportion of Catholics in England and Wales.
Data drawn from British Social Attitudes (BSA) surveys suggest that 4.4 per cent of the population identify as Catholic.
A report by the Benedict XVI Centre at St Mary’s University found that a relatively low proportion of Catholics in the region have retained their faith – just 44.2 per cent compared with 64.3 per cent in the North-East. Only in the East Midlands is the proportion of lapsed Catholics higher, at 42.9 per cent.
Greg Daly, writing for the Irish Catholic, noted that the South West had the highest number of lapsed Catholics joining different denominations.
Given the tiny proportion of Catholics in Plymouth, he wrote, “it seems likely that a disproportionately high number of Catholics in the diocese marry Christians of other denominations, with many then joining their spouses’ churches.”
Bishop O’Toole’s pastoral message can be read in full at CatholicHerald.co.uk under the headline: “Bishop: the West Country is ‘mission territory’ ”.
Heythrop sold for £100 million
The site of Heythrop College in Kensington, west London, has been sold to a property developer for a price believed to be over £100 million.
The 2.7 acre site incorporates 23-24a Kensington Square, large private gardens and further buildings. It was announced in 2015 that Heythrop, part of the University of London, would close in 2018 because of funding problems. The proceeds of the sale will support the future work of the Jesuits in higher education.
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