You Will Be My Witnesses
“[between] the first step, which is to come close and allow yourself to be struck by what you see, and the third step, which is to act concretely to heal and repair, there is an essential intermediate step: to discern and choose”
Pope Francis, Let Us Dream
LATEST UPDATE
On May 20th, 2025, Bishop Philip met with the Reading Pastoral Area Transitional Evangelisation Strategy Team and Finance Team at St William of York Church Hall. The meeting focused on the progress of the Ten-Year Mission plan aimed at deepening faith and facilitating evangelisation. The two groups shared reports highlighting initiatives for collaboration among parishes in Reading. It was agreed that sharing resources would enhance evangelisation efforts. The Bishop will soon confirm the new name for the Reading Pastoral Area based on three suggestions from the transitional groups. It was agreed that the improvement of communication across the parishes in Reading regarding the implementation of the Ten-Year Mission plan is crucial.
New name for our Pastoral Area. The bishop made the following announcement to the clergy today.
“I have now agreed with Fr Chris Heaps and the clergy and faithful of Reading, for their Pastoral Area to be called ‘Christ the Redeemer, Reading.’”
Three main themes of the Ten-Year Mission Plan (a reminder)
- To be Christ-centred Church: putting Christ at the centre of our hearts and our lives.
- To be missionary communities: going out on Christ’s service and mission.
To be prudent stewards of Christ’s Church; making wise choices to leave a sustainable legacy for future generations
You Will Be My Witnesses
Have you read the final Ten-Year Mission Plan You Will Be My Witnesses?
You Will Be My Witnesses has resulted from two years of research and consultation across the Diocese and beyond. The Plan identifies three main objectives for the Diocese for the next decade which include: to be a Christ-centred Church; to be a missionary community; to be prudent stewards of Christ’s Church.
You Will Be My Witnesses is a blueprint for the whole Diocese and details the collective effort required to create a Diocese in better shape, internally healed and renewed, with new faces, young families, more vocations and a harvest from ecclesial movements.
Please download your own copy here.
Let Us Dream
The Diocese of 2032 – A Ten Year Plan
Our fundamental aims are:
- To build Christ-centred parishes, devoted to the Lord and passionate about proclaiming His Good News of the gospel to the world
- To ensure we are responsibly using the Church’s human and material resources in service of that mission
- To ensure that the programmes and initiative we are beginning will be sustainable in the long-term.
To help us plan for the future we have identified the following priorities and discerned what outcomes we would would like to see. Take a look.
