Introduction from Canon David

By Canon David Parmiter

Welcome to the summer edition of the Parish Proclaimer and thank you to our contributors. The articles reflect the varied activities of our parishioners and their interests. One of the arguments I make in favour of belonging to a faith community is the different people you can meet and learn from in the Church. That is not to deny that the worship of God is the primary reason for our existence, but sometimes we need a way into what may seem like a really big task. Sometimes our journey of faith is like a programme of study where we gradually put into place the building blocks which lead up to the core topics. The events of life sometimes thrust us into the ‘deepend’ but God is always journeying with us offering us friendship through faith, building up trust step by step. Jesus says in the Gospel of John I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father (John 15:15). That is why our contributors are so generous, as through their words they share with us something of their journey from which we can gain encouragement, insight and the joy of living, enabling us to build up our faith through the normal process of growth.

This is the way news spreads including the Gospel, in the latter case by people sharing the ‘good news’ with one another. Pope Francis says that the content of this sharing the Gospel should be along these lines: ‘Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his life to save you; and now he is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free you’ (Evangelii Gaudium 64). We may not always use these words exactly and there may be situations where we are unable to use many words and our witness has to be through our deeds. That latter point is for another day, here in this issue of the Parish Proclaimer though we can read those articles that show us the ways in which, directly and indirectly, Jesus draws alongside us to enlighten, strengthen and free us. Happy reading. God bless you, Canon David