In 2009 a group of Anglo-Catholic clergy in the Diocese of London, encouraged by the then Bishop of Fulham, now Monsignor John Broadhurst, met to discuss a plan for parish renewal. I have kept the aide mémoire circulated after their meeting.

“Any evangelisation strategy among us seeks:

…. a new ardour in prayer and worship  (picking up the word from North/John Paul 2)

….. a new fluency in speaking to our friends about the Good News which is Jesus Christ in us

….a new dedication for both clergy and laity in the daily living of the Christian life

“We do not seek to promote a ‘Catholic Evangelism’ which is somehow different – we have serious doubts (outlined by Fr Philip North) about Mission Shaped Church – most notably its silence about the Church – which is central to God’s plan for the evangelisation of all people. I note that none of the current stuff is put out as ‘Evangelical Evangelism’, though the reason we are working on this is to produce something which is going to be attractive – and work with the Catholic parishes of the Diocese.

“In which case let it be unashamedly Catholic – it must centre on the Eucharist and on the Church as Body of Christ. It needs to ring Catholic bells – so that we place the initiative under the patronage of Our Lady of Willesden & St Mellitus! and wecommend for daily use a revised version of the ‘Night Litany for London’ .  We expect all participating parishes to have times of Exposition which are publicised across the Diocese in a chain of petitionary Prayer.

“The course, its aims and methods are devised by the small group, run in front of the London Bishops and the PEV’s – with comments invited: but we are going to do this ‘our way’ – and once launched it will be ‘taught’ – not given to clergy Chapters to be pawed over,  criticised and then forgotten.  Parishes will be asked to register and to accept its aims and methods. And then persevere in them!

“We recognise the diversity of Catholic Parishes (indeed, we revel in it, don’t we?) and give serious consideration to the needs of what I think are three types  (1) West End  (2) Urban Priority   (3) Suburban   …. the group needs one rep at least from these three types, if my analysis is right.

“The course(s) major on these aspects     A.  Sunday Worship    B. Welcome    C. friendship evangelism   D. identifying and enabling the small groups within our congregations  (which may include weekday mass congregations, existing groups & societies, )

 Catechesis – from pre-evangelism through preparation for baptism & confirmation and continuing nurture – stages of commitment, and RCIA type steps on the way. 

Identifying signs of and blocks to growth     

Lay ownership, lay leadership and the proper and healthy relationship between the Parish Priest and the people,.

The use of the new technology.”

From this rapidly evolved the “10 signs of growth” which were as follows:

TEN SIGNS OF GROWTH

The centrality of the Eucharist

Sunday Mass is a devout and joyful celebration for all the People of God

Love of the Scriptures

The People of God listen attentively to the Scriptures at Mass, study them alone and in groups, and are trying to put them into practise

Effective welcome

It is the responsibility of everyone to welcome the visitor and the stranger as if the Lord himself had sat down next to us

Consistent Catechesis

We are committed to deepening our faith, not just as children, but throughout our lives, and we expect our clergy to teach

Daily Prayer   Common prayer

We pray daily, on our own and together, in our homes and in church

Able leadership

The leadership, both lay and ordained, enables all the People of God to find and use the gifts God has given them

Responsible Membership

All Church Members play their part in the life of the Church

Pastoral care of all

Everyone is involved in giving and receiving of loving-care

Openness to continuity and change

We try to discern where  God calls  us to remain faithful to the tradition and where we must  make radical changes in order to grow

Sacrificial giving

Each Church Member is responsible for providing  what is needed by giving time, money and ability to make the Church grow

This evangelistic strategy borrowed unashamedly from the work done by Evangelical Christians in the areas of evangelism and Church growth, both at home and abroad. But it recognised the major failing in all such work: its weak doctrine of the Church and its misunderstanding of the centrality of the Eucharist to the Christian life. These two failures of comprehension have seriously blunted the work of evangelisation and have lead to serious misgivings in the Church of England about its latest strategy (June 2021).

And now to France and to a remarkable series of coincidences in this little parish of Notre Dame des Etangs in the Diocese of Amiens. 2-3 years ago and after a period of consultation (a Synodal Year ) the then Bishop called for the establishment of “Fraternités Missionnaires de Proximité”, in the parishes. Drawing on my own experience in the UK, we were quick to establish these groups. In order to explain our motivation and purpose we identified four ‘pillars’ which supported our ‘building’ (i.e. our Church) together with the ‘arch’ of prayer which bound them all together. These five things we expected to see at every level of our life together.

The meeting of these groups of people had hardly begun when we were overtaken by the COVOD virus. This summer we have begun to think about meeting again. Then one of the group leaders read a book review in “Famille Chrétienne’ of a “Guide pour rebooster nos paroisses” ( I hardly think that needs translation!!) At our next Pastoral Group meeting I mentioned this book entitled “EZ 37” (the title refers to Ezekiel chapter 37 – the prophet’s vision of the Valley of Dry Bones) and one of our members produced the book – as he had been a member of the parish in Paris in which his story of renewal is based. Amazingly, we discovered that the “5 essentials” identified and emphasised throughout the book were precisely those which we had posited in the “4 pillars plus the overarch of prayer”.

So much in EZ 37 has come from visits to Holy Trinity Brompton, to Saddleback Church in the States – and the Alpha Course, already popular among Catholics here in France, is clearly an important part of their parish life. BUT – and for me it is the great BUT – all that they propose of do is set within the parish, as part of the diocese, under the authority of the Bishop and within the communion and teaching of the Catholic Church. To those of who who are already feeling panicky about such a “Protestant” approach to renewal, let me quote:

“This is why we proposed times of ” ‘missionary’ eucharistic adoration. This proposal has as its purpose not only life lived in close intimacy with Christ, but to allow ourselves to be filled with the longing of the heart of Christ to show his love to the world …. ” (EZ 37 p.104)

We have for several years in the Ordinariate been seeking to identify our ‘Anglican Patrimony: I think this is a truly important part of it. The fact is that it has been discovered and is being worked out in France!

And what about the English Ordinariate sponsoring a translation of this EZ37? And would the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales be ready to take it on board?