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Bishop Richard Moth issued his third Pastoral Plan for the Diocese, “The Word Who is Life: The Call to Mission” in January 2024, appointing Canon Kieron O’Brien as the Episcopal Vicar for Pastoral Planning. In a reflection originally shared with Catholic churches in Epsom recently, Canon Kieron explores the progress of the Plan and the importance of Vision, Mission and Synodality.

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"Over the past 17 months, across the Diocese, our 11 former deaneries have started the process of becoming 11 new parishes, served by a team of clergy, who - while retaining their particular connection to a specific community - will be working more closely with each other than before.

"Each of these new parishes is at a different stage, with the pace of change tailored to local circumstances, but it is hoped that by the end of this year (2025) all 11 new parishes will be formally established.

"This new model will hopefully facilitate some economies of scale and sharing of resources. However, if we see this purely as a structural change to enable greater efficiency, we will be missing the whole point of the Pastoral Plan. To this end, we need to return to three key words: Vision, Mission and Synodality.

"It is essential that the leadership (clergy and laity) in our new parishes can unite around a shared vision of what the Catholic Church, in this time and place, can look like, and feel like.

"Bishop Richard shares his vision for the Diocese in the opening pages of the Pastoral Plan; that is a good place to start, but the vision also needs to set the direction of travel locally, so that the Parish can be truly mission focused.

"This vision of how the Church can be should excite and inspire people, so that they want to be part of it - and others will want to join. Pope Francis famously likened the Church to a field hospital, where all are welcome to receive healing grace.

"One of the early tasks of Parish Leadership Teams will be to communicate vision in ways that are attractive and compelling. The vision must inform our mission - another word which is often misunderstood (or simply avoided because it is always someone else’s job!). The truth is that all the baptised are called to become missionary disciples, so we must find creative and attractive ways of explaining what that means.

"The well-publicised upturn in the numbers of people joining the Church, or simply attending Easter services, shows that there is a real hunger for faith, which we are not always well equipped to respond to. Far from making us complacent, this good news should spur us on to an even greater sense of mission.

"All of this can only be achieved in a spirit of synodality, which is “church speak” for “walking together and accompanying each other in faith.” Key to this are conversations in the Spirit (which can be one-to-one or in small groups) whereby we listen deeply to each other, to discover what is in our hearts for our new parishes.

"Important decisions can flow from these conversations - which should happen at every level – involving clergy and lay faithful alike. The description of the Parish, which Pope Francis gave us in Evangelii Gaudium is now even more relevant for our new reality: “In all its activities the parish trains its members to be evangelisers. It is a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey and a centre of constant missionary outreach”. E.G. 28

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To find out more about the Pastoral Plan, “The Word Who is Life: The Call to Mission”, click here.