A Limerick city parish has launched a campaign to encourage people to bring the Church and religion back into their lives.The parish pastoral council at Our Lady of the Rosary parish has sent brochures questionnaires to more than 2,000 homes in the area seeking the opinions of parishioners.
The campaign has the backing of Bishop Donal Murray who attended its launch.
Previous consultation with parishioners by the Pastoral Council resulted in a Pastoral Plan which aims to bring the Church back into the centre of the community by strengthening links with parishioners.
The questionnaire invites parishioners to suggest ways in which parish life can be improved, and asks about needs which are not being met in the neighbourhood that could be of concern to the parish.
Locals are also invited to get involved in a range of activities within the parish, including the folk group, the church grounds committee, the IT group, fundraising, and bereavement counselling, along with youth activities.
Our Lady of the Rosary parish priest Fr William Walsh called on all parishioners to reflect on how they can contribute to community life and to fill in the questionnaires.
"I would encourage people to fill in theses forms but also to reflect and to respond in whatever way they can" he said.
"Its not just about faith but there are other ways people can contribute to community life," he explained.
Fr Walsh said that obviously, lay people will need to pay a fuller role in church life "particularly as there are less priests now with the average age of a priest at the moment is 61". +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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