Southwark Report Internals final single

Agency for Evangelisation and Catechesis - 2021
Working through the pandemic, building the team
SOME DEFINITE SERVICE
Perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of Some
Definite Service is the desire to have sixty volunteers
at a deanery level, three in each of the twenty
deaneries across the Archdiocese (to support over
500 Parish Leads). The Agency has been active in
recruiting members of this new volunteer missionary
network and it was a great joy to see Archbishop John
Wilson commission the diocese’s first twelve Deanery
Mentors in the autumn of 2021. By the end of 2021,
22 people were either commissioned or in the process
of becoming Deanery Mentors.
The development of the Agency for
Evangelisation and Catechesis, founded in the
autumn of 2020, continued into the new year.
As time drew on, the reality of the profound
changes in the new model of work supporting
adult formation, evangelisation and catechesis
in Southwark, became more and more evident.
The new team bedded in, and new initiatives
were instigated, but the fundamental work
of building the volunteer missionary network,
part of the diocesan-wide approach to parish
support, Some Definite Service, took centre
stage.
The second element of Some Definite Service, the
research and drawing up tools for the development
of Parish Plans across the diocese was commenced
ahead of pilots at the end of 2022. More on Some
Definite Service can be found on the Agency website.
The closure of the Centre for Catholic
Formation back in 2020 has enabled the
newly formed Agency to concentrate on this
grassroots support for parishes. The continuing
pandemic, likewise, meant that creativity and
technological sophistication came to the fore.
At the heart of this work, and the changes in
personnel and patterns of work, lies the idea of
relationship; relationships with each other and,
supremely, a relationship with Jesus Christ.
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