In 1992, in the Parish of Seaford where I was parish priest, a group was looking for some way of touching the people of that area with the Good News of Jesus Christ. One of the group mentioned that they had been taken by a friend to a church in London where they were starting a course designed to do that. The Church was Holy Trinity Brompton, the course, Alpha. Having had a look at the course and attended the church we decided to try it out. For two years we ran three courses each year, then reduced to two. I think that we were the first Catholic parish to use the Alpha course.
In my 50 years as a priest I have not been involved in anything that has both brought people off the street into the Church and rejuvenated the faith of committed Catholics the way Alpha does. I was pleased to hear the other day that after trying various other courses over the years, the parish is again organising an Alpha course this autumn, and pleased to to hear of the welcome given to the talk by Nicky Gumbel, reported in the Tablet on 18 July.
Unlike many of our RCIA courses the Alpha course seeks to not just to instruct people but to challenge them and to integrate them into the church community. Indeed, much to the surprise of many, they do not recommend conducting a course ecumenically because part of the experience of the course is the welcome and community spirit of the church hosting the course. Part of the problem of Catholic churches arranging an Alpha course is that there is not that element in that church hosting the course. Having been involved in (I have always left the people to run the course) courses in various parishes over the years, I do hope the Catholic Church will use Alpha as an invaluable tool for evangelism.
Fr Chris Benyon, St Mary of the Angels, West Sussex
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