Join us for Parish Listening Sessions about the future of the Archdiocese  in the Ogilvie Centre on Monday 15 May   and Tuesday 23rd May at 7 p.m.

All are welcome

“Pastoral ministry in a missionary key seeks to abandon the complacent attitude that says: “We have always done it this way”. I invite everyone to be bold and creative in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of evangelization in their respective communities… The important thing is to not walk alone, but to rely on each other as brothers and sisters, and especially under the leadership of the bishops, in a wise and realistic pastoral discernment.”

(Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium 33)

It’s time to face facts. Time to work together. Time to plan for a new and better future

With an appeal to ‘put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch’ Archbishop Nolan has launched the ‘Looking to the Future’ initiative, designed to equip the Church in Glasgow to be a vibrant community of outreach and support in coming years.

Parish Priests and one representative from each of the parishes gathered in the Cathedral on Saturday 22 April to hear the challenges and learn of what is expected of them in terms of planning for the future. Mary O’Duffin has kindly agreed to be our representative.

Five ‘Deanery Councils’ have been set up to find local solutions to local challenges. These councils will be made up of a priest and lay person from each parish, and over the next two months will be asked to make an initial recommendation on three areas.

• How can each deanery best evangelise in its local area?
• How can parishes in a local area collaborate better?
• What would be the best use of resources of buildings and priests in each local area?

The lifespan of the Deanery Councils is however more than six weeks. They are a permanent body and the driving force for change over the next few years. It is hoped that they will produce ideas for evangelization in the months and years to come.

Archbishop Nolan said: “We have to ask ourselves, ‘what is Jesus asking of us here and now?’ and the answer is found in his last words spoken on this earth – ‘go out to the world and spread the good news’.

“Pope Francis outlines three focuses for evangelization … the care of those already committed, engagement with those who are lapsed, and outreach to those who do not believe.

“In my time as a priest we have been good at the first two areas. We care well for the community of faith, we try to bring back those who have drifted away… but we don’t focus much on the third area – reaching out to those who have not been touched by faith.

“We need to focus more on this. We need to be a Church which reaches out to those who do not yet believe ... The sea ahead may seem stormy sometimes, but Jesus is there, always with us.”