Good News Notes Past Editions

April 2022 - Happy Easter from the Pastoral Services Team of the Diocese of London. We hope you're enjoying this newsletter and that you find the content uplifting, empowering, and relevant. Good News Notes is now available on a dedicated web page if you would like to access it at a later time or share it. 

The Four Verbs of Hospitality: Welcome, Protect, Promote & Integrate

In his Message for the 104th World Day of Migrants and Refuges 2018, Pope Francis introduces to the four verbs of hospitality. These same four verbs can be seen as the four steps of hospitality as we encounter people who are on the journey of faith and life. The four steps are not necessarily distinct; at times, they run concurrently.

A member of our team was reading the Story of the Road to Emmaus. In the story, we recognized the same themes. We've included the story here for you to reflect on as well.

Welcome: Welcoming includes greeting those returning to the parish and reaching out to others. We listen to them, validate their experience and respond in love and care. The parish offers “entry level” opportunities for people to witness the faith and charity of the parish community.

Protect: This step of Protecting can include taking those initial steps that will ensure that the material and spiritual needs of all are being addressed. This starts with building relationships based on trust and discerning when to (re)introduce people to Jesus Christ. Focusing on human development and care, and spiritual care, we promote a culture of meeting parishioners where they are at and accompanying them on their faith and life journey.




 

Promote: Promoting means we are empowering all parishioners to achieve their potential as members of the Church (i.e., the People of God). Helping all parishioners understand the call to holiness. Inviting all parishioners, especially those new to the parish, to discern their gifts and connecting them to parish initiatives that will help them address their faith and life questions.

Integrating: Knowing that each person brings their own gifts and charisms, we seek ways to integrate them into the life of the Church. True integration is not assimilation. Instead, integration is a reciprocal action that leads to new life in all people and in the parish community itself. 

The Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35)

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 

And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” He asked them, “What things?”… Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.

They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. 

Tips for Effective Church Communication

As our church calendars fill back up with liturgies, events, and meetings we need to share the information with our communities or no one is going to show up. Communication is vital for a mission-oriented church. With so much available and so much to share we wanted to share some tips for effective communication:

1. Simple Messages - There is so much information out in the world for people to consume and people's attention spans are only getting smaller. Giving brief, clear messages is important to capture attention. If you have more information or detail, put it on your website and provide a link. 

2. Repeat - We have so many forms of communication available to us in 2022: bulletins, websites, email newsletters, social media, Mass announcements, bulletin boards. Basic marketing research tells us that people need to hear things more than once. It's also important to consider your audience. Regular Mass attenders will be more likely to read the bulletin and hear Mass announcements, but parents of children receiving sacraments may be better to reach through social media or a targeted email newsletter.

3. Invite and Inspire - It is important to not only share information but also to invite people to participate in things and inspire them. By sharing why we are doing something, we can help people recognize the value in their lives and invite people in to participate with us. Which draws you in more: Serve with Joy. We need your gift!or Volunteers Needed? We can also share prayer and faith inspiration even if it does not pertain to an event.

4. Share Good News Stories - Sharing photos and testimony from things that have already happened brings value to our Families of Parishes by connecting people from different parishes and allowing people to see the goodness that is happening even when they are not present. Consider adding a section to the bulletin to share about something that has already happened or taking and sharing photos of celebrations on social media and on your website.

Whether you have a dedicated staff member, volunteer, or a team of people working on your communications, it is important to be intentional and dedicated to our communications to be a mission-oriented church.

Important Dates in May 2022

Click the links for more information about the saint or occasion.

2 - St. Athanasius
3 - St. Philip & St. James
6 - St. François de Laval
8 - World Day of Prayer for Vocations & Mother's Day
14 - St. Matthias
22 - Collection: Pope's Pastoral Works
23 - Victoria Day
24 - World Day of Prayer for the Church in China
26 - St. Philip Neri
29 - Ascension of the Lord & World Communications Day
31 - Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

If you'd like to learn more about Church Communication Strategies, we invite you to watch this webinar replay which was offered by the Archdiocese of Toronto last year.

Other Articles about Church Communication: 

• 10 Tips for Church Communication
• Best Practices for Parish Communication
• “Safe Environment” Compliant Communication
• Essential Keys to Effective Church Communication

 YouthLeader is a unique opportunity to grow your parish or school's ministry with high school aged youth - to connect, share ideas, and pray with other Catholic youth, all while having fun! Click here to find out more! 

"By engaging young people in active discipleship through a model of apprenticeship, the Church incarnates its certainty that young people are not only the Church of Tomorrow, they are the Young Church of Today." - You Give Them Something to Eat, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

We'd love to hear from you. Any good news you'd like to share with Pastoral Services? Read a good article lately? Send it our way: pastoralservicesadmin@dol.ca