Dear Father,
“Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation (Luke 16:15).
“Communication lies at the heart of the Gospel. It is necessarily a foundation for the life and development of the Church. Our Church must be sure to be communicating the Gospel to all people, using all the various means at its disposal.”
So begins a letter to every priest in the country from Bishop John Arnold for today, World Communications Day. Every parish is involved.
We already share our faith with each other, the other Churches, the people who know us in family, at work and the neighbourhood through our parish outreach projects to the local community – see over for our regular projects and, especially, a new initiative beginning in June that you may like to become involved with.
We also have an internet presence. For the past 15 years we have had a parish website, sharing our parish news and newsletter over the internet, available to all those involved with us as well as former parishioners, family, friends and anyone who has come to know us overthe years. There is a St Joseph’s Facebook group which people can join and interact with each other outside of church activities.
The Watermead Apostolate, based at the top of the car park, is involved in outreach to the wider community through its shop and webshop, with many resources available over the internet. We know our weekly “Lord’s Day” newsletteris downloaded from around the world as a resource for parishes, along with sheet music, recordings and artwork.
Over the past three years the apostolate has also been contributing music and reflections to Heavens Road FM, the country’s first internet-based Catholic Radio, and through this partnership has come a new possibility – communicating with people through a parish television service, televising and broadcasting all that happens in the church and in the parish. This offers many wonderful opportunites, especially in the live broadcasting each day of our mass for those at home, no longer able to be with us in person. We can also stream live events direct to our parish website from anywhere (in the world) as they happen – pilgrimages, youth and school events.
I spoke with Bishop Patrick about the possibilities. He said he had been considering the same in his parish in Stourbridge before his life took a sudden turn and he came to Nottingham as bishop! He encouraged me to involve the parish in the exciting developments now possible.
At the back of church there are leaflets and anyone interested is invited to a meeting on Tuesday 17th May to discuss further details and see the available information.
May God guide and bless us,
Fr John
Related Links: Popular Reads and Fr John’s Parish Newsletters
