Home Mission Sunday

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Home Mission Sunday

 

In the Catholic primary schools there has been a change in the curriculum for RE. The old programme called Here I am has been replaced by a programme called “Come and see.” It is a programme that over the Summer I have been looking at especially with my role as a Governor of St Mary’s. The opening Introduction to the programme outlines the objectives and why the title come and see was chosen.

The opening line sums it all up “Come and see is an invitation to exploration and a promise of live for everyone”. It seemed to fit into what we are looking at today which is Home Mission Sunday.

We know that the invitation to come and see was by Jesus to his disciples and they spent the whole day with him. He was an attractive character and had a message of hope and the love of God for all. This hope still attracts people today and we can see a tangible sign of this by the number of people that are received in the Church every Easter.

They come because the message of the gospel is attractive and is still fresh today 2 thousand years later. If people then want to come and see and they find their home in the catholic community we then as Church and parish have a responsibility and a role to play. We to some extent are showing people want it means to be Christ like. I jokingly said one day that the next book after Come and see is I have seen and have gone.

 

And why is this? If we are to be truly a missionary Church and parish we may need to think about what it means to be a parish. What do people see when they have responded to the invitation. They may be told that “that’s my seat” or they may see the same faces doing everything and not letting other get involved to use their own gifts and talents. They may get the cold shoulder suspicious of anyone new. They may see a Church that is so hung up on rules and regulations that it has forgotten the true meaning of the Gospel. On the other hand you may be overly welcomed that you back off and never darken the Church again.

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