North East Lincolnshire Catholic Community
You may be one of the four million UK Catholics who no longer comes
to Mass every Sunday. The fact that you are looking at this letter shows
that you are still interested in the Catholic faith. Perhaps you are
searching for something but you’re not sure what it is, or perhaps you
have happy
memories of going to Church with your mum, dad, brothers and sisters or
are remembering good times with friends at your Catholic primary or
secondary school.
We would like to invite you to come back to your home in the Catholic
Church because we are diminished by your absence from us. There are all
kinds of reasons why Catholics no longer practice their faith, as many
as four million different reasons. If it is due to the fault of one of
your fellow Catholics; maybe an unsympathetic parish priest or an
uncaring teacher, we ask your forgiveness and ask you not to let the
failings of others keep you from Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament or from
the friendship of your fellow Catholics.
Perhaps you never really practised your faith in the first place because
you grew up in a nonpractising family, but you were baptised, received
your first communion and were confirmed. You may remember that these are
known as sacraments. Now you have reached a time in your life when you
are asking is there anything more to life than the daily routine! The
fact that you are reading this letter suggests that the graces you
received as a child, through the sacraments, are drawing you back to the
Catholic way of life which Jesus established to help people like you
find the true meaning and purpose of their lives.
Perhaps you left the Church because you had other things to do that took
you away without you really noticing – the habit of going to Mass just
slipped away and you felt you had become an outsider. It is only natural
to feel awkward and unsure about how to come back, maybe worried that
you’ll do something wrong or embarrassing because it has been such a
long time since you entered a church. Things like this can loom large in
one’s thoughts, but please be reassured that you will be warmly
welcomed. It may be that a quiet visit to one of our churches would help
you. They are open at times when there is no service going on.
Why not contact one of the people listed below who would gladly arrange this for you. If you would prefer to have a friendly chat with someone these people could also help to arrange that. Anyway, thank you for reading this. If you know of anyone else who might benefit from this letter please share it with them.
Contacts:
Sister Margaret Redmond 01472 692370
ccparish@btinternet.com
Nanette Brown
01472 695507 nanette.p.brown@ntlworld.com