God’s Search for You
Just to drag us all away from the Confirmation programme excitement, here’s a novelty: a post on RCIA! The image is the front of a flier we’re using at the cathedral to advertise enquiry sessions...
View ArticleDiscipleship: How to Reach the Average Catholic Parent
Some news from an evangelisation survey (undertaken by Home Mission at the Bishops’ Conference) is interesting. To summarise, the following are some reasons that non-practising Catholic parents (with...
View ArticleWill your mission-focussed apostolate flourish in a maintenance-focussed parish?
I think that this question is on the hearts of many ‘intentional’ disciples with passion for mission and evangelisation. I’m thinking of people who are in situations where they have begun an apostolate...
View Article7 Quick Takes on embracing January, Called & Gifted, patron saints, and a...
-1- So, how’s everyone getting on with January?! Nearly there, people, nearly there… Almost all my friends I’ve spoken to recently have said they’ve bought themselves flowers at least once this month....
View ArticleCan catechesis get in the way of making disciples? (Part 1)
Let me say one really important thing: If you’re going to get out there and proclaim the Gospel more, you need to be ready with good discipleship and catechesis. I recently met with a wonderful,...
View ArticleHow do you know that what you’re doing is working?
It was a moment of doubt. I was sitting in the pub, waiting for a couple of our RCIA candidates to turn up, flicking through posts in the Forming Intentional Disciples Forum on my phone....
View ArticleWhat God can do…
We’re approaching Easter and so often for the parish year, this means that programmes wind up and catechists take a well-deserved rest. Well, not so in Portsmouth… We have revamped the RCIA process...
View ArticleDazzling is the night for me, and full of gladness … Easter
Happy Easter, everyone! I hope your celebration of the Triduum was blessed… For me, I was back for a few days at Fisher House – the university chaplaincy in Cambridge, and for three years, my...
View Article“Stand in awe and rejoice, we have become Christ!”: Baptism and Mystagogy
This is a wonderful line about Baptism from St Augustine (from his writings on the Gospel of St John). Today is the anniversary of my own Baptism, so I have been reflecting on it a little....
View ArticleMind the Gap: Crossing over from Old to New
Recently, I’ve been working with both a parish and a deanery to help them plan more evangelistic, “discipling” Confirmation processes. We have enjoyed some really invigorating sessions together that...
View ArticleRCIA: Don’t stop with just a programme
As you all know, I’ve written tons and tons and tons on RCIA. When you are doing a year-round process with enquiry and Catechumenate running simultaneously, I find that fully responding to the Holy...
View ArticleAslan is on the move
“It was a full moon and, shining on all the snow, it made everything almost as bright as day — only the shadows were rather confusing.” CS Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and the...
View ArticleWhy we’re thinking about using Alpha…
Well, it’s been quite a first week in my new Richmond life… Over the space of four days, I had goodbye parties in Portsmouth, Moving Day to a new flat, my birthday, and the first...
View ArticleWhy we’re not putting on any catechetical programmes…
… right now 😉 (That’s the important qualifier, so don’t think I’m going all ‘catechetical lite’ on you…) There’s a temptation when you arrive in a new parish to start thinking of what programmes...
View ArticleHow far will you go for mission?
Recently, I heard that my twenty-something cousin and her new husband are moving to help plant a church in the north-east. 25 other young adults and their families are moving with them and the...
View ArticleGrowing Pains
With all the new life and hope around us, it comes with a jolt to be reminded that we are still part of an overwhelmingly “maintenance Church”. By this I mean a model of...
View ArticleMini-Mission
The last couple of days, we’ve been blessed to be part of Meg Hunter Kilmer‘s UK mini-tour. I’m telling you, this girl is such an enormous blessing to us. She probably doesn’t realise how...
View ArticleAfter Alpha: Forming Future Disciple-Makers
So, by this stage, lots of people know that in Richmond we have been using Alpha as our initial evangelisation tool. I keep hearing of parishes all over the place now using Alpha, including...
View ArticleThe Paradigm Shift and RCIA
For those who have followed this blog for a while, you will know I have reflected endlessly and written a lot on RCIA (just seeing the RCIA tag here freaks me out a little!). When I worked in...
View ArticleProcess not Programmes
Five or so years ago, my approach to adult faith formation was all centred around the programme. I remember offering the Catholicism programme, shortly followed by a school of prayer, shortly followed...
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