|
|||
|
|
|
Celebrating Family Diocesan Projects: Diocese of Plymouth
The Diocese of
Plymouth has received a grant of £75,000 over three years
from the Celebrating Family Fund to
employ a part-time worker for three years to develop support for marriage
and family life within the diocese, through identifying existing
resources, strengths and needs as well as potential, sustainable
strategies for continuing diocesan marriage and family ministry.
The Celebrating Family Fund With the creation of the Celebrating
Family project in 2007, the diocese was able to demonstrate its
commitment to families. A successful bid resulted in the three-year
appointment of Jillian Wilce, a part time maths teacher in August 2008. Having
previously completed an MA in Pastoral Theology, Jillian was delighted to
also be offered sponsorship from the Celebrating
Family Fund to complete an MA in
Leadership for Family Ministry and
Faith Formation. The course has provided Jillian with an
excellent counterpoint to the previous MA, facilitating the practical
application of theological ideas, and enriching many aspects of her work. As the diocese’s dedicated MFLM Officer, Jillian
is located in the Department for Formation, and supported in the planning,
delivery and evaluation of the project by a Steering Group (comprising,
amongst others, a parish priest, a Marriage Care Provider, three mothers
with different personal circumstances and a Youth Coordinator).
Jillian’s first job was to liase with key diocesan personnel to
assess current needs and gaps in service provision to local families. ‘The
Church's pastoral concern will not be limited only to the Christian
families closest at hand’ A
key project goal was to encourage families to recognize the sacramental
dimension of their home lives and to build strong practical links between
family spirituality and the rites and rituals of the gathered church. Jillian visited over 14 parishes and 16 schools in 2009 and quickly
realised that the church would have to address the more fundamental issue
of ‘belonging’ before it could begin look at families’ approach to
the sacraments and catechesis in general.
Although parishes wanted to be welcoming and inclusive, many
families didn’t feel welcome.
They saw themselves on the edge of church
society, and not worthy. Any
meaningful experience of belonging was usually dependent upon attendance
at Mass – and those who didn’t attend, or whose children, or partners,
didn’t attend, felt excluded. Jillian
and the Steering Group realised that they needed first to define what it
meant to ‘belong’ to a Catholic Community and then ensure that
everybody, irrespective of their personal circumstances, could feel that
they belonged. Sensitive,
non-threatening, evangelisation was the
agreed way forward. Creative Ways Of Being Church A
Dorset based focus group was formed and a strategic plan drawn up to
create ‘safe places of encounter’ where families could engage with
their parish community. Creative Ways of Being Church
is the result: a stunning folder of beautifully illustrated menu-style A4
cards offering ideas for people to meet and get to know one another
outside of Mass. There are
many plans in the folder for group activities – including a book club, a
parish weekend, a curry night, a soup walk and a karaoke evening – each
with practical advice on all aspects of planning the event.
Each plan comes with carefully chosen scripture, prayers and
reflections. A year in the
making, the resource was published in October 2010, and will be officially
launched at the
Diocesan Catechists’ Conference on 21st January 2011.
It has already been well received by clergy and laity both inside
the diocese and beyond (over
45 copies have been requested and there are plans to put the resource
on-line). At a recent Diocesan
pastoral council meeting, where Jillian introduced Creative
Ways of Being Church,
a delegate commented, ‘You should have
brought more copies – they LOVE it!’
The Project Steering Group is confident that the resource will be largely
self-servicing and that Creative
Ways of Being Church will give families the confidence to engage
with each other informally in the first instance, building a sense of
belonging which will then feed into existing sacramental programmes.
Another strand of Jillian’s work is the development of the diocese’s
‘broad’ approach to Marriage; which culminated in a Marriage
Conference on Saturday 11th December 2010, at Buckfast
Abbey in Devon. The day was an
opportunity for practitioners (including priests, counsellors, marriage
preparation providers, catechists and married coupes) to share good
practice, learn of existing initiatives within the diocese and to explore
national initiatives in support of marriage.
The day opened with a reflection on the vocation to, and spirituality of,
marriage (“The
connection between the spiritual and the tender intimacy of physical union”).
The
day also included a workshop on the Beginning Experience which offers
weekend retreats to the widowed, divorced and separated hoping to make a
new beginning in life. “We
found the Service joyous, very uplifting and we shall treasure the memory
of the day for many years.” Jillian also spearheaded the
organisation of Plymouth’s very successful Celebration
of Marriage, at Plymouth Cathedral on 20th November 2010.
The day was attended by over 200 couples celebrating more than 6000
years of marriage.
During Mass couples were invited to reaffirm their vows; they received
a blessing from Bishop Christopher Budd and afterwards enjoyed wedding
cake, a glass of bubbly and the chance to share stories and
reminiscences with each other. Those
present commented on how much they had enjoyed being part of such an
uplifting ceremony. One couple
said that it was, "a
perfect day for sharing our marriage with so many other married
couples." And another said, "It
was refreshing to take part in such a happy occasion." Four
couples, all aged 60+, who met at church in Plymouth in the 1970s and now
live hundreds of miles from each other, made the long journey to be
reunited at the Marriage Celebration.
The four couples worked out that they had ‘clocked up’ 174
years of marriage, 13 Passing on the Faith
and
Home
is
a
Holy
Place Jillian has also developed the Passing
on the Faith initiative in the diocese. Responding to anxieties
expressed by families in Listening
2004, the Exeter Deanery has produced 13 A5 wipe clean recipe-style cards,
entitled, ‘Catholic
Tradition Alive At Home’ which offer help with everything from
making the sign of the cross to creating a prayer corner - and tips on how
to incorporate them into busy family life.
Jillian created a spirituality module which fits onto the end of
Catholic Children’s Society parenting courses, and she recently produced
a resource
taking inspiration from the Papal visit, and Cardinal John Henry
Newman’s words, ‘Heart Speaks Unto Heart’. Jillian is coordinating Plymouth’s
contribution to the development of the Passing
on the Faith initiative, undertaking a
pilot study to clarify the complementary roles and responsibilities of
home-school-parish; the results of which will be used to produce a
national resource. Jillian has
devised a ‘Monopoly’ game to aid the process. The project will be financed
by the Celebrating Family fund
until August 2011. Enquiries
are currently being made with other agencies within the Plymouth diocese
to see if it will be possible, with them, to sustain the work of the
project. Since it is unlikely that
Diocesan Funds will be available, the Department for Formation will
be looking for other sources of funding to maintain the project.
For more information or to enquire about the availability of Creative
Ways of Being Church and other resources please contact Project
Manager David
Wells or MFLM Officer Jillian
Wilce. Donate to the Celebrating Family Fund
|
|
|
Website Design : Blank Canvas Designs |
|
