God Needs You!
Parish Visiting Programme
The Parish Visiting Programme was pioneered by Jim Killeen in 1993 in response to a decline in local Mass attendance. The process begins with a parish census after which trained evangelists are sent to those households which are non-active or on the fringe of parish life. The central message the visitors carry is of God’s love and that the people visited are assured of a warm welcome in their local parish.
Underpinning the visiting scheme is the understanding that the parish community is an outward-looking one. All members of the parish are encouraged to get involved initially through being exposed to the witness of others. It is hoped that, in turn, the effect of this witness will be that every parishioner is transformed into an evangelising member of the parish.
Training for the programme takes about a year and involves volunteers attending weekly sessions where they themselves hear again the Gospel message and are encouraged to grow in their spiritual life and the practical expression of it. These trainee evangelists initially practise on active parishioners who are willing to take part in role-plays. This helps the trainees to build confidence.
After a period of training every person listed as being in the parish is sent a letter telling them about the forthcoming house visits. They are free to decline a visit if they wish. During a visit the evangelist aims to find out a little about the family and their Church background. This then leads to questions about the faith, with the aim of initiating more personalised faith sharing. The hope is that each visit ends in prayer.
This programme has been pioneered in a parish in North Staffordshire and has had many positive effects. Visitors have shared many stories of healing and reconciliation. The visitor’s faith is also strengthened, as is a sense of community in the parish as a whole.
Contact:
The founder of this programme has recently died. Enquiries can be directed to:
Contact Information
- Fr Paul Watson, Director of the Maryvale Institute
- Maryvale Institute
Maryvale House
Old Oscott Hill
Kingstanding
Birmingham - B44 9AG
- Telephone: 0121 360 8118
- Fax: 0121 366 6786
- director.maryvale@dial.pipex.com
- http://www.maryvale.ac.uk
or via CASE
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