Record numbers of people are expected to become Catholics this Easter in parishes across London and south-east England.
Nearly 850 people are on the cusp of entering the Church, according to new figures from the dioceses of Westminster and Southwark.
More than half live in the Archdiocese of Southwark, which covers parishes in south London and Kent. The 450 adults now completing the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) represent the highest number of new Catholics in the archdiocese since 2015. Some are converting from other faiths or Christian traditions.
Last year 275 people became Catholics in the Archdiocese of Southwark. This year’s figure represents a 164 per cent increase.
Dr Mark Nash, director of Southwark’s Agency for Evangelisation said: “Too often we are pessimistic about the future of the Church, many people say that the Church is dead or dying, but the growing numbers of people seeking to join the Church shows that with commitment, drive and trust in the Holy Spirit, with expectancy and hope, and with collaboration between priests and people, our mission to lead people to the Lord Jesus’s through His Church will be fruitful.”
The Agency for Evangelisation supports parish RCIA co-ordinators. It also helps individual parishes tailor a “parish plan” to foster evangelisation. Volunteers, both lay and ordained from Southwark’s Some Definite Service network, help with this task.
Figures from Southwark have also revealed a 10 per cent increase in the numbers of Mass-goers over the past year.
Archbishop John Wilson has previously spoken of his desire for Southwark to be “an evangelising diocese” saying “that means every person has a role to play. Every baptised Christian, every disciple of the Lord Jesus is called to share their faith with others in word, in action, in celebration, in worship, in prayer, in faith through that beautiful gift of sharing what we know to be true.”
The RCIA figures from Southwark are mirrored in Westminster Diocese where in late February, 398 candidates and catechumens from 82 parishes took part in the rite of election and call to continuing conversion at Westminster Cathedral.
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