PRESS RELEASE

 

For Immediate Release                                                                      

4th September 2006

Catholic Church Dares Its People To Unearth

Their Guilty Secrets

 

As part of a national campaign, the Catholic community is poised and being invited to go public about one of its most precious and safely guarded secrets.

 

Themed ‘Dying to live… for the sake of the Gospel’, the new campaign is being spearheaded by the Right Reverend Malcolm McMahon, Bishop of Nottingham.  Bishop McMahon holds responsibility for the work of Catholic evangelisation in England and Wales. He said: “When it comes to publicly sharing and expressing your Catholic faith is your friendship with Jesus your best kept and maybe even guilty secret?  Perhaps Jesus is someone that for different reasons you wouldn’t dare introduce to your family members, friends and work colleagues? By launching this campaign, all of us are being challenged to reflect and think again about the witness that we give to Christ on a daily basis.  Do not be afraid to spiritually ‘die to self’, so as to celebrate, proclaim and live your faith.” 

 

His comments come in the run up to Home Mission Sunday.  Sunday September 17th is the day in the year when the Church is invited to pray for and support the work of evangelisation in England and Wales.  Home Mission Sunday, which doubles up as the campaign launch day, is being resourced by the Catholic Agency to Support Evangelisation (CASE). CASE Director, Mgr Keith Barltrop explained: “Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection lies at the very heart of the evangelising message we have to give the world.   Jesus teaches us that by living and proclaiming His life of sacrificial love new life will spring forth in our hearts and communities.  Each one of us is called on a daily basis to spiritually die to ourselves so as to live; through engaging in charitable acts, courageously speaking about our faith to others, through faithfulness to prayer, the sharing of our time and talents. In this way God can do His evangelising work in and through us. Each person can be used as a powerful instrument of His healing love and mercy. Home Mission Sunday reminds us that we all have a role to play in the task of evangelisation.”

 

CASE has sent over 4000 resource packs to every parish and religious house in England and Wales. Within the pack, there is a poster, children’s liturgy materials, an evangelisation resources catalogue and much more.  One of the most significant items being offered is a ground breaking Evangelisation Directory which is available online and in a printed format.  It contains over 250 entries with eleven sections covering diocese, welcoming back returners to the faith, materials for young people, web links, and more besides. 

 

His Eminence Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor said: “Jesus Christ was not afraid to proclaim who He was and share His message in a loving and respectful way with all those that He met, even if it led to suffering, rejection and death. In these times as a Catholic community, we too must, in our own and very different ways, do the same. In a spiritual sense we must all be ready to joyfully ‘die to live’ so that the message of the Gospel can be heard afresh in England and Wales.”

 

For more information please contact: CASE, 114 West Heath Road, London. NW3 7TX.  t. 020 8458 3316  e: info@caseresources.org.uk 

w: www.caseresources.org.uk  and for non-Catholic enquirers www.life4seekers.co.uk

 

Editors/Journalists

For more information please contact Clare Ward.

t: 020 8458 3316  m: 0770 939 1998  e: Clare.Ward@caseresources.org.uk

 

Notes

CASE is an agency of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and works to support all tiers of the Church in the task of evangelisation through offering an expanding portfolio of resources and training.  It also runs the Catholic Enquiry Office which offers a unique service to non-Catholic enquirers.  During the last year the office has been involved in a number of high-profile initiatives linked to such media productions as Narnia, The Da Vinci Code and The Convent, all of which have attracted enormous interest among non-Catholics.  CASE relies heavily on the annual collection taken on Home Mission Sunday; much of its work relies on donations.

 

CASE was launched by the Bishops of England and Wales in April 2004 to support and resource dioceses, parishes, schools, groups and individuals in proclaiming the Good News of God's Love.

 

For ideas and resources to enthuse, engage and equip evangelisation in the Catholic Church, see www.caseresources.org.uk

 

Seeking? Exploring? Finding?  Think about the meaning of life at www.life4seekers.co.uk .  For all those seeking meaning in their lives.