Bishop Daniel Meagher has taken a positive and practical step to re-connecting locals with Jesus
A Sydney Bishop was so determined to invite everybody in his community to Mass over Easter that he pounded the pavement to do it.
Bishop Daniel Meagher, administrator at All Hallows Parish Five Dock, was joined by an army of volunteers to hand deliver 4000 Easter postcards letting parishioners know the Church is “open for business and raring to go”.
Instigated by parishioner Sandy Lynch and with the simple message, ‘The Light is on and the Doors are Open’, the beautiful postcards not only invited people to Mass but outlined all of the Easter services including Reconciliation.
The Five Dock parish, bordered by Russell Lea, Abbotsford and Chiswick, took to the streets to renew relationships within the community following several challenging years due to staff turnover and COVID lockdowns.
Bishop Daniel said it was such a blessing seeing hundreds of volunteers giving up their time to evangelise the inner west parish.
He said the postcards had turned out to be a great way to not only unite those in the community but also within his parish.
“It’s been great for the parishioners themselves to feel part of the evangelisation project of the parish,” he said.
“The idea came from parishioner Sandy Lynch to spread the message that we want people to come back to Church and that we are open and raring to go.
“This parish has had a pretty traumatic time over the past few years for a number of reasons including COVID lockdowns, so we are very keen to get the message out there that we are open for business and the Lord has Risen.
“It’s terrific to see hundreds of people delivering the Easter postcards and being active members of the parish.
“We ordered 4000 postcards and they will all be hand delivered.
“It’s terrific to see hundreds of people delivering the Easter postcards and being active members of the parish.
“I really hope other parishes follow our lead and look at doing something similar to this, perhaps at Christmas.”
Sydney Centre for Evangelisation Parish Renewal Manager Elizabeth Arblaster said initiatives like this are vital as studies have showed that many people are curious about spiritual matters and would be prepared to explore them in the right environment.
“We know how important invitation is, so clearly there are people who are waiting for us to welcome and invite them,” she said.
“When Sandy mentioned they wanted to undertake this initiative we really wanted to support them so we worked together with the design team to produce this card.
“Any parishes that want to explore further how to do that effectively please be in contact with the Parish Renewal Team and we’d be happy to support you to become a more invitational parish.”
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