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Everybody's Welcome is about supporting the development of welcoming, family-sensitive, friendly parishes
- to offer understanding, friendship and support to all
- to be a source of help in times of need
- to help everyone in the parish feel that they belong there
- to encourage and celebrate all family life whether married, widowed, single, divorced, separated, with children or without.
Everybody's Welcome is a collaborative initiative, coordinated within dioceses, focussed on parishes, nourished by the development of nationally available resources.
Why is Everybody's Welcome necessary? Back to Top
- Because friendship with others in their parish helps families:
"The friends we have at church enrich our lives, and give us spiritual support for the right choices."
- Because not everybody feels known, loved or accepted by their parish community:
"One person's warm and caring parish is another person's clique."
- Because today's family life creates particular challenges for parishes:
"We need to create a culture of inclusion and welcome. We think that priests can do a lot to recognise the diverse nature of the congregation when preaching and preparing notices."
- Because a range of families in particular situations are experiencing additional difficulties:
"It is difficult and stressful to bring our autistic child to church, both for us and him."
- Because families asked that parishes be sensitive to the pressures of family life when timetabling events and asking for help:
"Sometimes little is understood about how busy evenings are; 6-8.30 are family times, not times for meetings."
- Because participants asked for practical tools to help parishes make families feel at home and know where to go for extra help or advice:
"Packs for welcoming and sharing information, contact details, affirming families in what they are already doing."
- Because participants suggested that parishes could help families be more aware of the existing support available in the community:
"There's a lot of family support out there. We don't want to reinvent the wheel but parishes could act as a sign post."
Objectives of the Everybody's Welcome Action Plan Back to Top
- To highlight both the need for friendly, welcoming and family-sensitive parishes and the stories of those parishes already putting this into practice.
- To raise awareness of family diversity – social, cultural, spiritual, over the life-cycle and in changing circumstances – and develop materials to enable parishes to explore, articulate, celebrate and accommodate the diversity of their families more effectively.
- To encourage acquaintance and friendship within parishes by promoting social events and opportunities for sharing life experiences.
- To draft practical resources for supporting community and family life including models of parish welcoming packs, an outline for a parish family ministry handbook and the revision of the 1999 diocesan family ministry coordinator’s handbook.
- To assist the development of local networks of family support by creating a national directory of sources of support and templates for local contact information.
Evaluation Criteria Back to Top
Everybody's Welcome will be evaluated in January 2007 against the following criteria:
Contribute to the Evaluation Process
Members of the Working Group Back to Top
Roberta Canning (Wrexham), Clare Ford (CASE), Sarah Johnson (Westminster), Judith O'Grady (The Grail), Joy Wanless (Salford) and Elizabeth Davies (Project Officer).
Meetings are also attended by Susan Tym (Hallam) or Jo Pitt (Middlesbrough) and by a staff member of the Catholic Communications Network.
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