England & Wales Bishops launch "a vision for the church in our land"

The Bishops of England and Wales have reflected together on the Holy Father’s pilgrimage to the Great Britain and launched A vision for the Church in our Land on the anniversary of his visit. 

“We recall the excitement, vision and hope that stirred in the hearts of so many who watched or took part in those historic events. Many experienced the visit as a powerful encounter of God’s love and a welcome response to the deep thirst there is among the British people for the Good News of Jesus Christ,” the bishops state.

Integral to the Vision document, they write, “is recognising the importance of being confident, faithful and courageous in our mission, teaching and witness.”

They highlight three priorities:

• Mission - To proclaim the universal call to holiness in Christ – by promoting a culture of vocation within the corporate identity of the Catholic Church, marked by a confident Catholic faith; 

• Teaching- To proclaim Christ and his Gospel as saving truth – by fostering and encouraging a culture of dialogue and solidarity and in terms of witness.  

• Witness- To proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God – by serving and witnessing to the whole community, especially by supporting marginalised and vulnerable people.

Within these priority areas they set aims and objectives:

• Re-establish Friday abstinence as a common act of witness and of solidarity with those who are in need or suffer and as an expression of our vocation to follow Christ who sacrificed his life for the good of all humanity. 

• Actively encouraging lay Catholics to witness publicly to their faith with renewed confidence and to communicate a culture of vocation to a wide audience. 

• Creating a national vocations framework, offering discernment opportunities to all, not only to ecclesial vocations but also to marriage and other forms of lay witness. 

• Continue to encourage the programme we have begun of deepening social engagement to bring greater coherence, support and visibility to the Church’s evangelising witness through the development of Caritas within England and Wales. 

• Foster opportunities to “build bridges of friendship to other religions, to heal past wrongs and to foster trust between individuals and communities” by building on the unique and inspirational encounter between people of faith and representatives of other religions which took place during the Holy Father’s Visit. 

• Work with other Christians and people of other religions to identify the areas of greatest need, at home and abroad, so that we can, “come together in concrete forms of collaboration, as we apply our religious insights to the task of promoting integral human development, working for peace, justice and the stewardship of creation” and, “to work together for the good of the community at large.” 

• Strengthen our communication of the work of the Church through the use of new technology and build partnerships with appropriate media outlets to build on the vision of the New Evangelisation for the transmission of the Christian Faith.

“We believe that the beauty of holiness, the splendour of truth and the joy and freedom born of a living relationship with Christ can still speak powerfully to the hearts of the people of our country.  This is the inspiration for our work ahead,” they conclude.

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