The project, which is a Year of Faith initiative, is a diocese-wide campaign, asking regular churchgoers to invite a friend or relative to come to the celebration of Mass, on December 2.
“People who drop out of churchgoing may have simply got out of the habit. They may have moved or had a change in life circumstances and drifted away. Quite often life has become too busy,” said Joseph Purcell, assistant director of the Diocesan Pastoral Centre.
“The concept simple,” he said, “but if it succeeds we hope to develop it as a regular event in the diocese. A number of parishes are already making preparations and we will follow up afterwards to see what kind of impact the initiative has had.”
The Diocesan Pastoral Council sent out literature to all parishes at the start of the month which provide suggestions on how to celebrate the day from the celebration of the liturgy to ideas for a social gathering after Mass.
“Whether you are looking for a chapel to call home or just visiting, we all want to know that they are welcome always and especially during Come and See Sunday,” the pamphlet states.
“An idea for after Sunday Mass is to encourage pastoral councils and parishes to think about what they can do to build relations and to create a vibrant church spirit. We could all learn a lot from our church community, and what better occasion to demonstrate the cornerstones of our church coming together after Mass to meet clergy, groups and societies face-to-face.”
Suggestions for community activities range from “a wee cup of tea (with maybe a bun)” to guest speakers, exhibitions by parish organisation or a showing of the new diocesan vocations DVD.