Catholic Faith Questions in Churchdown

27 August 2010

During and following the Papal visit in September, the Catholic Church will be in the spotlight.  This will generate interest from the people enquiring about our faith. In anticipation, Father Kevin Hennessey of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Churchdown, Gloucester hosted a meeting to prepare to such eventuality.  Father Kevin tells us how it went.

Jackie Bailey works in accountancy in the city of Gloucester as well as being the leader of our parish’s RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adult) team and a Eucharist Minister.

Jackie conducted a little survey at her work and asked some of her colleagues to give her some questions on the Catholic faith and practices.

These questions covered general topics such as what were the main differences between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church - to deeper thoughts such as explaining the Pope’s infallibility, the meaning of the Eucharist and our beliefs on life after death.

Some of the questions showed that there are popular misconceptions about the Catholic faith and this provided a good opportunity to show what the Catholic Church teaches in reality.

Jackie said: “My friends at work were genuinely interested in what the Catholic Church is about. I had no idea until I asked them… an idea to help us prepare as community turned out to be very inspirational.”

“The meeting itself was  attended by a number of parishioners from other Catholic parishes in our Gloucester deanery and it gave us all an opportunity to discuss what would be the best answer to give to any enquirer in a simple and clear manner. We all felt that we learnt something and were ready to face further questioning. We concluded that the best way to describe our faith is that it is based on love – God’s love for us and our love for him.”

There are more papal visit preparations here in Churchdown.  Next week we welcome the Clifton Diocese Papal Visit Coordinator Father Michael McAndrew who’s giving a talk about the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI.   All are welcome on Tuesday 31 August.

Father Kevin Hennessey

The papal visit begins for our diocese on the eve of the Holy Father’s historic visit to the United Kingdom.  A special evening of prayers will take place in the Cathedral led by Bishop Declan and Bishop Tom Burns of Menevia, we will join together and pray that the papal visit lights up the heart of our nation.  All are welcome to take part from 7.00 pm to 10.00 pm on Wednesday 15 September. 

As we prepare to welcome Pope Benedict XVI we invite you to an evening with the man who’s presenting the BBC’s portrait of the Holy Father.  Award-winning TV documentary maker Mark Dowd will share with us how he’s grown in his understanding of the Holy Father’s vision for our world.  All are welcome to this free event as we look forward to welcoming the Bishop of Rome.  It takes place in Bath on Friday 10 September at 7.00 pm.

The official website thepapalvisit.org.uk is the best place to find out the most up-to-date information in the build up to the special time in the life of the Church in our countries.  It will also provide full coverage during the visit - a great place for you to follow the visit virtually if you are unable to be at any of the large public papal events.

You can also make your donation towards the visit at the official website.  It's simple, secure and direct.

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