April 2008 : Tribute to Bishop Kevin
Sr Michael, the Co-ordinator of the Diocesan Evangelisation Team, pays tribute to Bishop Kevin on behalf of the Team.
The “pressing priority” of Bishop Kevin
When Bishop Kevin was ordained in May 2004, he moved immediately to re-vitalise the whole process of evangelisation begun by Bishop Ambrose, giving it a structure and a much higher profile in the life of the diocese. He delighted in quoting from Paul V1’s Evangelii Nuntiandi that “evangelisation is the very life blood of the church….and without evangelisation, no church”.
By January 2005, a working group had come together from around the diocese to consider a way forward. Bishop Kevin listened to our recommendations and by February we had a Central Diocesan Co-ordinating Team of priests, sisters and representatives of groups in the diocese already working in the field. Led by Sr Michael and with Fr Martin Stempczyck as our liaison with the Bishop, we have worked together for three years now.
What is our vision? Anyone who knew Bishop Kevin soon realised that communion and mission were central to his thinking and ministry and that his dearest wish was to see the faith of individuals come alive. He encouraged us to work towards faith communities of worship, witness and service at every level- parish, deanery and area, thus creating an evangelising diocese based on communion (of parishes and groups) and mission (outreach to others).
He saw our task as urgent – to explore the call of all to live and share the Gospel in the society we live in with all its challenges and to transform our diocese into a beacon of outreach and mission. When we worked out our strategy, Bishop Kevin took a keen interest urging us to press on despite the difficulties.
Bishop Kevin in 2006 with the newly formed
Evangelisation TeamOver the last two years we have held events in different parts of the diocese aimed at raising awareness and removing fears; we stressed the need for personal evangelisation by holding spiritual and scriptural days and addressed the main challenges of our culture. All this was necessary spadework. We then began in earnest to work towards the formation and training of a group of people from a particular deanery in Sunderland (chosen by the Bishop). These hopefully would form the first Deanery Evangelisation Team. It was the Bishop’s wish to have a team in every deanery and parish in the diocese. What he wanted was no less than the transformation and empowerment of the people of this diocese.
The best tribute we could give him would be to work for the realisation of his vision.
There can be no more pressing priority than evangelisation. This lies at the heart of our baptismal calling. Jesus invites us all ever more heroically to witness to and share our Catholic faith to the point of dying to self. Let us pray that each of us is given this grace…………
Bishop Kevin Sept 06
