A welcoming parish?

A group of us were talking recently about how people, new to the parish, might feel.  Did we all do enough to make them feel welcome? Do we bother to make ourselves and the groups the parish has to offer known?   I spoke about my own grim experiences in the dim and distant past when I gave up coming to St.Columba’s and made the round trip by train to Westminster Cathedral every Sunday.   Those days are past.

There is a complete muddle of notices in the entrance lobby; some of these relate to parish activities, others are more general.   It would be very easy to overlook something relevant to our interests.  Some of the posters have faded with time and could be said not to present a welcoming, active attitude.  Others seem well out of date.

The magazine with its regular series of articles on the different groups and the lists of contacts provides another means of advertising what we have available.  But, the feeling was that all of this may not be enough to reach out to all the various newcomers to our parish.  Perhaps we should have welcoming committees or social events for newcomers?

We have decided therefore to open up this subject to the parish for ideas on how we can be more welcoming and therefore more Christian in our approach to the strangers in our midst.  Perhaps we should be asking ourselves how would Jesus deal with this?

Please let us have your ideas addressed to the Editor ‘In Touch’ in writing via the Presbytery or by e mail to tricia_steel@hotmail.com

Judy Freegard

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