COME & SEE
We are delighted to be able to offer a number of resources for use in parishes and to give out to your parishioners.
Come & See Invitation Cards (which parishioners can give to people as a simple invitation to consider their parish’s RCIA)
Come & See Prayer Cards (encouraging us all to pray for this endeavour)
Also available from the Agency are:
Copies of the Ultimate Relationship Booklet (available on request) for distribution. Email aec@rcaos.org.uk.
Electronic Help sheets for an evangelising welcome ministry (see below)
Come & See Invitation and Prayer Cards
We rejoiced this year as an Archdiocese as we welcomed a decade-high number of 450 people entering the Church at Easter. Encouraged and inspired by this, we are challenging every Catholic in the Archdiocese to invite someone in their life to consider the Catholic faith.
Is there someone who has been asking you questions about faith? Maybe a family member who has not received the Sacrament of Confirmation? Perhaps a friend who is intrigued by the person of Jesus or often asks you to pray for them?
Pick up a Come & See Invitation Card and echo the call of Jesus by giving the card to a loved one. The card includes details of your Parish’s Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA). A place where questions can be asked, where a personal relationship with God is proposed and the life of prayer is lived.
All parishes will receive printed copies to be handed out over the next few weeks so people can be invited.
If you would like to print more please click on the image below to download a copy.
Come & See Invitation Card. Click to download.
Come & See Prayer Card. Click to download.
The Lord Jesus is calling us to Mass.
What is our answer?
COME HOME (Christmas 2023)
We are delighted to be able to offer a number of resources for use in parishes and to give out to your parishioners.
WE MISS YOU Invitation Cards (revised for Christmas 2023)
Copies of the Ultimate Relationship Booklet (available on request) for distribution at Christmas Masses
A Webinar on preaching on the themes in the Ultimate Relationship booklet
Help sheets for an evangelising welcome ministry
WE MISS YOU Invitation Cards
These are to be distributed by parishioners to interested friends or those who have drifted from practice.
All parishes will receive printed copies to be handed out over the next few weeks so people can be invited before Christmas (unless they have opted out).
If you would like to print more please click on the image below to download a copy.
Warm Welcome
If we are inviting people to return to Church or indeed to come for the first time it’s important that they receive a warm welcome.
For some this might be the first time they are coming back since the beginning of the pandemic and so they might be feeling rather nervous or uncertain. For others it might have been many years or even their first time and so have no idea what to expect. Whilst there will also be those who are weekly visitors and know exactly what is happening. All of them deserve to be welcomed warmly and encouraged to feel comfortable, to know that the Church is their home.
In order for this to happen, it might be necessary to have a real look at how your parish and your parishioners welcome visitors. We hope these documents below might give some starting points and ideas to consider.
Please click on images to view full size
To download the documents please click on the buttons below.
Ultimate Relationship Booklet
Written by Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO), the Ultimate Relationship booklet is an ‘evangelistic tool that presents the Gospel clearly and simply providing an opportunity to respond to Christ’s invitation to a personal relationship.’
Parishes will also have received physical copies of this booklet and we are suggesting that these are handed out during the Christmas Masses to all who attend.
Find out more below.
Preaching Webinar
To accompany the handing out of the Ultimate Relationship booklet we are offering a webinar on preaching.
See a little intro below by Michael Hall.
We will be joined by Fr John Parks who is the Vicar of Evangelization for the Diocese of Phoenix, USA. Fr John will be sharing on the themes of kerygma, relationship and conversion, which are all contained in the booklet and will hopefully support your preaching over the Christmas Masses.
The webinar took place online on Thursday 16th December 5:45-7:00pm. If you would like to receive a recording of the video, please email aec@rcaos.org.uk
Calling People Home (Pentecost 2022)
Following Advent 2021’s campaign, COME HOME, the Archbishop is inviting all parishioners to extend an invitation, his invitation, to parishioners who have yet to return to Mass. Each parishioner is encouraged to offer a card to a friend with an explicit call to come home. Letters have also been prepared for parents of school age children. Copies of these resources have been printed and posted to every parish - electronic versions can be seen below.
Parishioners’ Letter
Absent Friend Card
Letter to Parents of School-aged Children
COME HOME (Christmas 2021)
We are delighted to be able to offer a number of resources for use in parishes and to give out to your parishioners.
WE MISS YOU Invitation Cards
Copies of the Ultimate Relationship Booklet for distribution at Christmas Masses
A Webinar on preaching on the themes in the Ultimate Relationship booklet
Help sheets for an evangelising welcome ministry
Webinars for evangelising courses (Sycamore, Alpha, Discovery etc) that can be offered in the early part of 2022 to capitalise on interest
WE MISS YOU Invitation Cards
These are to be distributed by parishioners to interested friends or those who have drifted from practice.
All parishes will have received printed copies to be handed out over the next few weeks so people can be invited before Christmas.
If you would like to print more please click on the image below to download a copy.
Looking Ahead
We now have people invited to Church and feeling welcome - What’s next?
We encourage you to think of what events or courses you could invite people to, over the coming months, to help them answer the call to a relationship with Jesus.
Take some time to think and plan what these could be. Here are a couple of suggestions to get you started.