Evangelii Gaudium
Evangelii Gaudium Sunday (formally Home Mission Sunday)
Today the Church celebrates Evangelli Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) Sunday. There will be a retiring collection at the end of all Masses this weekend to support the development work of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales’ Department of Evangelisation and Discipleship.
The Catholic Church in England and Wales has celebrated Evangelii Guadium Sunday each September. The origins of this Sunday lie in the work of the Catholic Missionary Society, created by Cardinal Bourne in 1903 and which closed in 2003. This special Sunday focused on the evangelisation work that takes place in each parish and diocese, offered a theme and resources for reflection on this Sunday and asked each parish to have a collection so that the national work of evangelisation could be supported through the Home Mission Office. Following a restructuring of the work at the Bishops’ Conference, the Home Mission Office no longer exists, but the work of encounter and evangelisation continues through the Directorate for Mission - https://www.cbcew.org.uk/evangelisation/. Through this directorate, the vision of the Holy Father is embraced in a fuller way and promotes the whole ideal of Proclamation, Evangelisation, Dialogue and Catechesis.
A key focus of work for the next few years is responding to Pope Francis’ calling of a Jubilee Year in 2025 with the theme “Pilgrims of Hope”. Pope Francis reflects on this invitation in the letter he has written for Evangelii Gaudium Sunday, you can read it here - https://www.cbcew.org.uk/home/our-work/home-mission/evangelii-gaudium-sunday-2/pope-francis-message-2023/
The second collection of Evangelii Gaudium Sunday supports the work carried out by the Mission Directorate on behalf of the Bishops’ Conference. In the last year, this has included:
- Enabling the recording of videos on the four constitutions of Vatican II;
- Bringing together a working group from across England and Wales to prepare materials for the Jubilee Year 2025 and the Year of Prayer 2024;
- Supporting Patrimony experts to deliver funding to 39 projects at outstanding Grade I and II* Catholic Churches with the £6.6million awarded to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference via Historic England through the governments’ Culture Recovery Fund in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and
- Supporting co-ordinators and their teams in dioceses through formation and sharing of best practice.
Please be generous in your support for the Outreach undertaken by the Church throughout England and Wales
Evangelii Gaudium Sunday (formally Home Mission Sunday) Next Sunday the Church celebrates Evangelli Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) Sunday, there will be a retiring collection at the end of all Masses next weekend to support the development work of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales’ Department of Evangelisation and Discipleship.
