Cathal BarryCatholics need to take responsibility for reaching out to people who feel alienated from the Church, a major faith conference has heard.
Addressing participants at the annual Faith and Life Convention in the Diocese of Down and Connor at the weekend, Fr Alan McGuckian SJ said the Church in Ireland had witnessed many people “drift away at least from the regular practice of the faith” in recent years.
Citing the fact that average Church attendance every Sunday in the diocese last year stood at 20%, the Jesuit priest said “something new” was now required.
“It seems that even though the Word of God is proclaimed and the Bread of Life offered still people are dying of spiritual malnutrition and not being fed. If we always do what we’ve always done we’ll always get what we’ve always got. It’s not that we have to try harder. We’re in a new world and we have to do something new,” he said.
Noting that the Church has “numerous resources” capable of countering the “problem of widespread spiritual malnutrition”, Fr McGuckian, who is the Director of the Living Church office in the diocese, said these were not being availed of.
“There is a gap. We will bridge that gap by building those resources up. We’ll do that by putting our time and energy and our money into exploring them ourselves. Then we need to make them available for people who are now far away.
“More than that, we need to take the personal responsibility of reaching out and inviting people to explore the riches of our Catholic heritage starting with those we know and love,” he said.
Following a panel discussion, the more than 500 participants were given the opportunity to take part in two workshops from a range of 20. The workshops were led by various contributors including The Irish Catholic’s columnist Baroness Nuala O’Loan. Topics that were explored included the beginning of life, the pastoral response to suicide, sectarianism and reconciliation, the relationship between faith and the media, ecology, youth ministry, family prayer in a changing world and the issues facing Northern Ireland in the upcoming referendum on Britain’s EU membership.
In their own words:
Michael Fleming, Ballymoney Parish
“I came to the conference to try to learn more about what is going on in the diocese and the wider Church in Ireland. It is a great opportunity to meet people and to learn. It’s good to see a new focus on developing the laity in the Church which needs to be encouraged.”
Dorothy Clancy, Ballygalget Parish
“With the numbers of priests dwindling, more lay people within the parish have to become involved. Otherwise we are just going to lose the sense of Church, especially in the countryside. The conference is more about meeting new people, it’s about learning and getting ideas.”
Treise Loughlin, Holy Family Parish
“I have felt over the last while that I have lost my way and need to start going to Mass more. I hope to get a lot out of today and to meet other young people interested in their faith.”
Philomena Devlin, St Agnes’ Parish
“Last year’s conference really deepened my faith and gave me hope to see so many Catholics gathered together to explore ways in which make our Church a more living one and to stregthen our faith.”
Gerard Rafferty, Nativity, Poleglass
“I have gone through a conversion this year. I am trying to go to more event like this to deepen my faith, create fellowship and to try to get more involved in the Church.”