Celebration of Faith: Diocesan Gathering June 25th 2000 Waterford Institute of Technology.

The Planning

From the outset it was decided that our diocesan gathering should not just
be a one off event, that there should be a series of initiatives at parish
level leading up to it, and continuing afterwards as the day itself would
hopefully act as a catalyst for mission and renewal. Around Advent 1998
small pilot schemes were attempted in several selected parishes to explore
very practical ways of making our worship more dynamic, (group services,
more participation, use of drama etc.) The question was also asked, how could
we make our parishes more welcoming? These pilot schemes were quite successful but after that there was little else attempted by way of a build up to Celebration of Faith 2000 in our parishes and the idea of having a diocesan gathering quickly became the main focus of all our efforts.
There were long discussions about a possible date and venue. Eventually
we decided on 25th June 2000 at the Waterford Institute of Technology, on the Cork Road, in Waterford. The College was available as a conference venue out of term time and most of the facilities we would require were already in place including catering,security, car parking, lecture rooms, display areas etc. The day itself would end with an act of worship outdoors.

The aim was to involve as many people as possible. We began by having a logo competition aimed at secondary school pupils. The winner was a leaving cert student called Serena Dool, coincidently,from Waterford, and her logo was used on all our subsequent headed notepaper and publicity material.

We then had to sell the idea to the Diocese. The plan was that there would be no acts of worship in any of the thirty three unions or groups in the United Diocese that day, except perhaps for an early morning communion service for those unable or unwilling to participate in the day. Instead, everyone would travel to Waterford where would all worship together, as a diocesan family.
Money was needed to finance the event. There was an initial appeal to parishes for some financial support and over six months or so, at least half the parishes in the diocese sent in amounts of money ranging from £20-£300. This raised about £2500 and this gave us something to work with. Later, we applied successfully to the C of I Priorities Fund (£4000) and to various County Councils within our diocese who had special funds available to support Millennium events. This would realise at total of £3600 , although this money would only be paid out after our event. The Diocesan Council gave us a loan of £4000. It was decided that the collection on the day would also go towards defraying expenses, after giving 20% of it to the Bishop’s Appeal.
The biggest expenses were to be the hire of the College itself,publicity and printing/ postage costs.

To try and encourage people and to make the event known it was decided
to set up a network of Parish Co ordinators. Every parish was written to
seeking the name of at least one person in that group or union who would
act as a local contact. This person would be responsible for distributing
publicity material and information in their own situation as it became
available. The idea was that everything we produced would get to every house in the united diocese, that it would reach, not just those who attended church, but also the non attenders, the Christmas and Easters only and those on the fringes of parish life. We failed if material was only left at the back of churches because only a small proportion of our target group would ever see it. To be a parish co-ordinator was a very important job and if it was taken seriously it demanded a certain amount of time, organisation, commitment and hard work. Based on the diocesan census returns for 1999, which are submitted for sustentation purposes, our initial target was approx. 3900 households and just over 10,500 people.

The Plans start to come together

Progress initially seemed slow, but by the end of 1999 the format of the day was coming together: Start at 11,00 am finish with a closing Eucharist outdoors which would begin at 4 p.m. In between those times people would be free to make what they wanted of the day, they could attend workshops, watch displays, browse at the various exhibitions, have a picnic, meet old and make new friends. The preacher at closing Eucharist was to be Bishop Roger White, Bishop of Milwaukee who chose as his theme, the Feeding of the Five thousand,

A Youth Camp was organised in Waterford over that same weekend at
Newtown School aimed at 13+. They stayed over on the Saturday night and joined us on the Sunday. There was a Seven a side soccer tournament for National Schools in the diocese with the semi finals and finals to be played on day. The winners of the annual Bishops poster competition for national Schools were presented with their prizes in Waterford. The principal uniformed organisations were brought on board, including the BB, and the Girl Guides. The Mother's Union also participated as did various missionary societies. There were workshops organised on things like liturgy, music , calligraphy, painting, hymn singing and flower arranging. Games were staged for children as well as video shows etc. Brass bands were hired as well as other music groups and a crèche was provided.

Parishes were encouraged to travel to the event in buses. A WebSite was constructed to promote the event. Parishes were asked to take part in a banner competition, which would then form part of the opening procession at the Eucharist. Competition between parishes was keen and it was decided that the judge should be someone who would be leaving the country soon after the event, a visitor from a sister church, the Bishop of Lund.

We received a lot of useful information from Cork Diocese who had a
similar event at Millstreet in 1995. We had our own chalices and patens specially made for the event and afterwards each parish took a set home with them. We decided to publish a series of Monthly Newsletters which were
distributed to every home in the diocese through the Parish Co-ordinators. These provided the latest information about the event and profiles of workshop leaders. Every household in the diocese received a personal Invitation. On June 4th, just three weeks before the day, we had an Awareness Sunday when the clergy and lay readers of the diocese were asked to give the day a final plug in their sermons.

The Day Begins

Sunday 25th June, was a beautiful morning weatherwise. Many people began arriving before the official start time of 11 a.m. The brass band playing at the entrance and the sunshine quickly established a carnival atmosphere. Most of the workshops were soon oversubscribed. At one stage, the canteens ran out of food. Over the day tournaments were played, prizes were awarded, dramas rehearsed, workshops were run, a reredos created which formed the backdrop on the platform. The closing Eucharist had to be the highlight of the day, from the opening parade of parish banners to the spontaneous outpouring of congregational singing at it’s close. It was wonderful to see so many people worshipping together.

We have no accurate figures of the attendance but it has been estimated that between 2500-3000 people were present. The social aspect of the day, was very important , people met so many old friends and there was a very positive reaction afterwards. The success of the day was due to the enormous
amount of time, effort and expertise given so freely by so many who captured the vision and worked selflessly, tirelessly and with such dedication to make the day such a real celebration.

In the immediate aftermath of 25th June some people called for more of the
same and even suggested it be made an annual event. It would be extremely
difficult and time consuming to organise something on such a scale on a
regular basis. It’s novelty value would soon be lost and no doubt support for it would quickly wane with each passing year. On the other hand, smaller, regional events, maybe every five or ten years, should be possible andrelatively easy to facilitate. Events which would have lively, dynamic,
innovative worship at their core but also with a strong social element, such as a picnic, run in conjunction with it. Such gatherings would help build up and maintain relationships and a sense of family. These events would also be attractive to people who may be on the fringe of local parish life. They may find it less intimidating to go along to a larger event than if they were to attend their local parish church on a Sunday morning. If they were to be
made welcome on such occasions they may be encouraged to get more involved locally.

Looking to the Future

The Celebration of Faith Day seems to have been very well received but we
must not forget that while it did attract some newcomers, it was largely
catering for those who already see themselves as being members of the Church
of Ireland. We must not be tempted to look inwards or to maintain and
foster an exclusive club mentality. We must reach out to the lapsed , the
unchurched, the seeker. We must not forget that whole concept of welcome,
which was the theme of our Celebration. We are not always very good with
strangers, or at embracing those who do not belong to the tribe and this has
been a major weakness of our ministry and witness in the past. If we are to
have a credible witness now and in the future, we must wholeheartedly
endorse the concept of welcome and all the demands that would make of us
as a church community.

Canon Gary Dowd (October 2001)