By Anthony Barich
HOLY Spirit Parish in City Beach has launched a new programme to “Reconnect” with lapsed Catholics.
The parish has created a portfolio on its parish council led by a new family whose story is the reason why such a ministry is so critical.
The migrant family who had been at the parish for three months without anyone noticing or speaking to them, are now spearheading the Reconnect programme, seeking to strengthen the connection between the parish and families in its adjacent primary school.
Parish priest Fr Don Kettle said the fact that nobody had welcomed them in three months was “totally unacceptable” for a parish that claims to be a true spiritual community.
The initiative is the result of the Legion of Mary doorknocking over 3,000 houses in City Beach in 2008 to gauge how many lapsed Catholics lived in the area. On 14 April, over 5,000 new flyers with the banner “Drifted away from the Catholic Church? Like to reconnect?” were distributed throughout the suburb.
A welcoming committee has been set up which rings those who respond to the flyer, sets up a time for visitation and tells them about the parish’s apostolic work, movements and prayer groups. The parish will then assign an established parishioner or family to the respondents as part of a “buddy system” to walk with them in their faith journey.
The flyer says: “The Holy Spirit Catholic Church, City Beach welcomes you to join with us in our faith journey, especially those who are searching for information about the Catholic Church and those who wish to be engaged further in the life of the Church and its mission in the daily living of the Gospel.
“If you wish to strengthen your personal relationship with Jesus Christ, then we invite you to become a part of His vibrant, faith filled community, as living witnesses of Christ’s love to others.”
Fr Kettle said he chose these words carefully so as not to use “overly Catholic terminology” but to focus on the basics of Christianity that lie in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and living this out in the world as a “witness” to God’s love.
The flyer, which also displays the parish’s Easter and weekly timetables, including Family and Children’s Masses and Reconciliation, includes a large image of a cord nearly broken in the middle.
“There would be Catholics out there who have disengaged from the Church for whatever reason and I just feel strongly that this is the time to do it. I’m conscious that some people are isolated, not connected to any community, so we need to reach out to those people as well as those who have drifted away.”
City Beach parish, at 2 Kearney Place, can be contacted on 9341 3079 or by emailing Holyspirit.Parish@perthcatholic.org.au.