Adult education & evangelisation

Director: Rev Christopher Whitehead
Administrator: Richard Williams
Alexander House, 160 Pennywell Road, Bristol BS5 0TX
Tel 0117 902 5595

The Department for Adult Education and Evangelisation exists to promote, encourage, and support all aspects of faith formation, particularly Pastoral Councils, Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), opportunities for a deepening of prayer and experience of faith, Sacramental Preparation, as well as offering resources, tools and initiative for Evangelisation, and the support of our young people as well as those who work with them. The essential work of the diocese is to provide opportunities for the people of our diocesan community to deepen their prayer, enable a sense of communion, and strengthen their mission.

As part of this, the department facilitates a number of opportunities designed to help people to deepen their own faith and to be able to share their faith with others. These include such things as ‘Rooted in Christ’, a course designed for people who simply want to know more about their faith, ‘The Diary of God’, an eight week series of talks which open the richness of the Scriptures to us, and the Certificate Course In Catechesis, aimed at people who are engaged in catechesis in their parishes, helping them to understand what the ministry of the catechist is and giving them a firm foundation in Scripture and the Catechism.

The department hosts formation days throughout the year including an annual day on the Triduum (the three days from the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Maundy Thursday to Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday), an annual catechists’ symposium and other days of reflection and formation.

The department supports the work of ongoing formation of priests and the formation programme for the permanent diaconate.

The department has also produced a number of guides to support the RCIA process and to support parishes in implementing our diocesan pastoral guidelines, ‘Called to be a People of Hope’.  These can be downloaded by clicking on the links below:

Called to be a People of Hope
Pastoral Councils – Implementation Guide
Guide to the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults
Making it work in your parish (RCIA)
Parishes in Communion for Mission

The department also produces material for Lectionary based Catechesis which offers a useful guide for RCIA groups.

For further information on any of these events or booklets, please contact us. You can also download our postcard in the multimedia panel on the right.