Salford Diocese Department for Evangelisation: News and Events

Salford Diocese Department for Evangelisation
HOME PAGE	News & Events	RESOURCES

	Salford Diocese Celebrates: A Year of ' Welcome ' ' Over 350 people from across the Diocese came together at Holy Cross Sixth Form College, Bury on 18th February 2007, to celebrate a year of focus on what it means to be Welcoming community.
Above: Bishop Terence Brain and Fr. Paul Cannon, Episcopal Vicar for Evangelisation. Click on photo's for enlarged view	The Welcome Celebration, led by Bishop Brain, highlighted some of the very positive aspects of 'welcome' which are already happening across the Diocese as well as some of the many actions which parishes are taking to extend the ministry of welcome in their communities.
	The Welcome programme also highlighted some obstacles that perhaps limit the extent to which parishes can realistically implement some of the good practice and ideas that have been generated through our year long reflection on 'welcome'.
	The Diocesan Celebration was a very thoughtful yet lively affair with a mixture of reflections on how 'welcome' is portrayed in the Scriptures, thought provoking sketches and songs by the Reach Christian Puppet Ministry, hymns, prayers and an address by Bishop Brain.
	Some of the young people of our Diocese were also in action during the celebration, providing a warm welcome on arrival, serving refreshments, as well as providing 'voice-overs' to some of the reflections.
	Many parishes who attended the event brought their Welcome banners with them, adding a very colourful focus to the event. Other displays around the hall highlighted aspects of welcome that parishes wanted to share, including examples of parish welcome packs, leaflets, prayer cards and other resources that are available.
	Reflecting on the Puppet sketch of 'The Sacred pew', Bishop Brain talked about his own experience as a child visiting another church whilst on holiday at his Grandparents, where the benches had 'names on them'. He also commented on how pleased he was to see many new initiatives coming from the programme over the past year in some of our parishes.
Fr. Paul Cannon, who led the roll-out of the programme across Salford Diocese, used an old Winston Churchill comment to highlight that the programme had not come to end, or even the beginning of the end, but that we were merely celebrating the end of the beginning. He said: "The whole celebration was a joyful experience and gave a sense of great hope that our parishes can keep on moving forward in being Welcoming, Family Friendly parishes for many years to come'. A report of all the findings and initiatives from the Welcome Programme is in the process of being compiled at the moment and will be published soon.

January / February 2007
	Subsequent to the Introductory Meetings to each of the thirteen deaneries of Salford during May and June of 2006, parishes have been working with the resource materials and some great initiatives have developed. During January and early February 2007 the diocesan 'Welcome' team re-visited all Salford Deaneries to receive feedback from parish clergy and representatives.

photo: Some of the clergy and parishioners of St. Catherine of Siena's deanery in attendance at their diocesan introductory meeting for the 'Welcome' programme.

Salford Diocese Welcomes All!

In May and June of 2006 the Department for Evangelisation launched a new Diocesan programme -
'Welcome, Family Friendly Parishes.

The programme is part of a 3 year national plan of action launched by the Bishop's of England & Wales, which aims to respond to the needs outlined by our parish communities through various Diocesan and National consultation programmes.

Full details