The general resources on this website provide starting points for a broad approach to developing the spirit of welcome, friendliness and family-sensitivity in a parish. However some families experience such challenges that a more specific approach is vital in order to meet their need for understanding. This page links to a variety of resources, some developed in the course of this project, others developed elsewhere, that we hope will be of use to parishes keen to make everybody feel welcome.   

Read about the Conference where the development of the What is Life Like series began. 

Migrants, Asylum Seekers and Refugees 

Catholic Association for Racial Justice  -  Links to materials for Racial Justice Sunday, September 9th 2007

Churches' Commission for Racial Justice - Materials for Racial Justice Sunday 2007 focus on welcoming migrants. 

National Catholic Refugee Forum

Travellers

Read the Pilgrim Catholic newsletter Autumn 2006
Read the Pilgrim Catholic Newsletter July 2007 (1mb)

Contact Richard Zipfel, Senior Advisor on Community Relations to learn more about the Network 

"A Cutting Edge Moment in the Life of the Church in England and Wales"
Making Everybody Welcome: A Working Conference
High Leigh, 20-22 January 2006

"Recognise your power, the power of determined hearts" was Bishop John Hine's plea to participants in the Making Everybody Welcome working conference. Preaching during the concluding Mass on Sunday, January 22nd, Bishop Hine said, "People today make judgements based very much on how they feel. A sense of welcome is therefore high on people's register - that is why what we have been doing this weekend is so very important. Your work here is the beginning of something enormous, which could bring about tremendous changes in our church. It is core to the gospel message and while its success lies in God's hands, we all have to do everything we possibly can to make it work. I will play my part, but recognise your own power to make this real." 

Over 70 participants from almost every diocese in England and Wales , and from a wide range of church organisations and lay associations, had gathered for the weekend to address the challenges and devise strategies for parishes committed to welcoming and supporting families with specific needs. These included families experiencing learning difficulties, mental illness, bereavement, separation, divorce and remarriage as well as families of young people, of gays and lesbians and families who lack a shared faith in God.

Fr Daniel O'Leary (former Episcopal Vicar for Christian Formation in Leeds Diocese and Tablet columnist), in his keynote address on Friday 20th January, left no-one in any doubt as to the significance of the conference. "I do think that what you are going to be asked to do this weekend really is touching the very heart of the gospel. There is a danger that somehow we may just see it as a practical exercise that will help things. It is, of course, that, but it is infinitely more important. We are touching on topics that are quite explosive and that really strike at the heart of a lot of our differences and similarities. It's Matthew 25 in practice. It is a cutting edge moment. Without being too dramatic about it, I feel this is a cutting edge moment of the life of the Church in England and Wales."

Participants divided for the weekend into eight focus groups, each dedicated to a single issue.  Each group was commissioned to devise a leaflet for parish pastoral leaders to assist them in understanding what life is like for families in these situations, to suggest practical activities including prayer and liturgy opportunities and to highlight further sources of information and advice. The conference was organised as part of the Everybody's Welcome campaign, launched by the bishops of England and Wales on January 8th in response to requests from over 15,000 families who took part in Listening 2004. 

Many participants had personal experience of the situations being considered and so when the results of the groups' work was presented at a plenary session on Sunday morning, there were moments of deep emotion. One participant later observed: "It was a privilege to be present on Sunday morning and listen to the content of the various presentations. The leaflets which were compiled over the weekend are in effect the personal history of all those attending the conference. What better way to move forward in the Church than addressing and wishing to improve on the mistakes of the past?"

Most groups identified as crucial the need for families in these situations to feel a sense of belonging in the parish, as their circumstances in many cases often led to a sense of exclusion. The power of a personal invitation from either the parish priest or parishioners was emphasised over and over again.  The group focussing on families who lack a shared faith in God expressed it as: 'invite, include, involve'. The bereavement group noted the example of a priest who sent hand-written invitations to the parish's annual liturgy of remembrance and healing. The young people's group highlighted the importance of a variety of activities: social, musical, sporting, pilgrimages, holidays. Bidding prayers were identified by most groups as an effective way of acknowledging the diversity of family life within the congregation. 

Exclusion and isolation were mentioned as challenges by the groups reflecting on mental health issues, learning difficulties and on the needs of gay and lesbian Catholics. Those suffering from mental illness often felt stigmatised in society as did gay and lesbian Catholics and their families. Parishes could do a great deal to alleviate loneliness and feelings of rejection by being sensitive in their use of language, especially in prayers and sermons.  "The church can become inhospitable when it forgets that Jesus is the host," said one group.

Two groups also noted that these families, like all families, are both objects and subjects of all Church activities. The challenge therefore lay not only in serving their needs, but also in enabling members of such families to contribute to the life and mission of the parish as full members of the Body of Christ.

Making Everybody Welcome was a stimulating and challenging conference; "the Catholic Church at its best," as Adrian Thacker of the Catholic Children's Society put it.  Other comments include:

"Thank you for the opportunity to address problems which are so important to many and the opportunity also to meet others who are concerned."

 "It was most helpful to realise that we are indeed one people in Christ and the way the conference was organised supported this".

"The conference was a thought provoking, inspirational event, propelled by the energy of those present with an almost palpable wish for the inclusion of all God's people in the family of the Church. I believe that the successful implementation of the vision encompassed in the conference is vital both to the Pastoral Plan for our diocese, and the future of our Church. The manner in which it is delivered to parishioners, with the full support of the clergy cannot be underestimated."