West Country parish reaches out to retired non-attenders
Parishioners at the Sacred Heart Parish in Somerset's Chew Valley are reaching out to retired Catholics people who do not attend church. The parish, which celebrated its 200th anniversary last year, is one of the oldest in the country and currently celebrates weekly Mass at churches in Chew Magna and West Harptree. Announcing the initiative, Parish Priest, Father Richard Sullivan, said: "The Catholic Church in the Valley is very strong with 130 regular Mass goers and has an active social and religious programme, but I know there are many more who grew up as Catholics but stopped attending for one reason or another. I believe that if they view the Church as it is today they might be interested in wanting to know more." With this in mind the local Catholic parishioners will be holding a number of social events at the homes of parishioners all over the Valley in the next few months to invite others to come and meet us on a social level. Father Richard continued: "For those interested we will be following these up with aseries of house Masses later in the year. The first social event was a great success and will be followed up by a house Mass in Chew Magna on 13 March. Future locations for events at parishioners' homes will include the villages of Blagdon, East Harptree, Bishop Sutton and Dundry."