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Members of the clergy from Crawley Deanery recently spent a prayerful and reflective 24 hours together to focus on "Prayer, Formation and Mission", as foundations for helping them explore what might be possible as they begin to work more collaboratively, in line with Bishop Richard’s Pastoral Plan: A Call to Mission.

In attendance on the day were Canon Tim Madeley, who is the Moderator Elect for the eventual new parish; Fr Alban Aguezeala, Fr Xavier Amirdasamy, Fr Tristan Cranfield, Fr Nelson Daniel, Fr Paul Fleetwood, Fr Jack Lusted, Fr Peter Ojiaku and Fr Joachim Osigwe, as well as Deacon Tom Murray and Deacon Paul Russell, and Diocesan Youth Adviser, Lizzie Wakeling.

The afternoon session on Tuesday afternoon was facilitated by Ben Gray who gave participants the opportunity to reflect on how they can be more missionary in their current situation. Using the book From Christendom to Apostolic Mission by Mgr James P Shea as the foundation, they explored why we need to focus on becoming and forming missionary disciples, and how this might be achieved by working more collaboratively, both with each other and with the laity.

The morning session on Wednesday began with Mass, followed by an opportunity to look more closely at some of the practical steps that need to be taken to help bring the current parish communities into one new parish. The final session of the day was a Conversation in the Spirit, where everyone shared their response to the question "How have you experienced a renewed encounter with the person of Jesus?" This was a wonderful way to grow in fraternal sharing, whilst reflecting on the very intimate reasons why, as brothers and sisters in Christ, we all share a desire to proclaim the Good News of Jesus to those around us.

Writing after the event, Lizzie shared that

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"It was such a blessing and a privilege to be with the members of the clergy for this overnight event. I can’t begin to describe how special it was to participate in a Mass where I was the only lay person, it felt like a real encounter with the wonder of heaven.

"I feel incredibly humbled to share this time with the priests and deacons of Crawley deanery, they are such good and holy men who have dedicated their whole lives to the service of Christ and His Church, I pray that this step towards working ‘in solidum’ (or in solidarity with mutual responsibility and interdependence) for the good of the new Parish will bear much fruit."

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Deacon Paul, who organised the event, reflected that:

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"Having been pitched into organising this and feeling well out of my depth, and so being conscious of being heavily reliant on the Holy Spirit to guide and provide, I am relieved and delighted (but shouldn’t be surprised!) that it proved to be a most fruitful, valuable and enjoyable time together. Most importantly, I believe we ended with the feeling that this had been not just an isolated event but the start of something special for our onward journey together. The topic choice for Conversation in the Spirit took me totally by surprise but proved to be, perhaps, the high point of our time together."