Resurrection: the tender revolutionWe're used to thinking of the resurrection as a moment in time - the moment when Christ who was dead becomes alive. But as we emerge from lockdown, this Easter feels different - it is also a slow dawning of something new.
The coming months invite us to reconnect with friends, family and neighbours, discover new vocations, and re-open ourselves and our parishes to a wounded world. We will rediscover each other 'in the flesh'. This long resurrection will require both care and courage from us all.
Pope Francis talked of 'the revolution of tenderness' in The Joy of the Gospel in 2013. His words then prove strangely prophetic today: |
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"The Gospel tells us constantly to run the risk of a face-to-face encounter with others, with their physical presence which challenges us, with their pain and their pleas, with their joy which infects us in our close and continuous interaction.
True faith in the incarnate Son of God is inseparable from self-giving, from membership in the community, from service, from reconciliation with others. The Son of God, by becoming flesh, summoned us to the revolution of tenderness." Evangelii Gaudium, 88 |
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This edition of Grapevine offers a routemap for this revolution of tenderness, through Eastertide, beyond Pentecost, and into next year. This is not an invitation to keep to yourself: it is an invitation to pass on. The gift of the Gospel is one to give away. Paul (Programme Leader for Social Action) |
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Please feel free to forward this email to fellow parishioners,
or include content in your parish bulletin.
Sign up to receive Grapevine direct to your inbox: click hereIn this issue - Revolution of Tenderness - at a glance
- Listening campaign - coming soon
- Prepare the future - workshop next Wednesday and on 2 June
- Relay to the Glasgow climate summit - coming our way
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Revolution of Tenderness: at a glance
Click to download the poster below.
Feel free to circulate it with your parish e-bulletin with the text that follows. |  |
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Sample article for your parish bulletin
Please feel free to copy the 'Revolution of Tenderness' logo at the top of this issue
Revolution of Tenderness: As we emerge from lockdown into the 'new normal', God is calling each of us afresh. The diocese is offering a series of initiatives and events inspired by Pope Francis called Revolution of Tenderness, to help us answer that call. The invitation comes from Caritas, the new diocesan network supporting social action, and includes:
- Prepare the Future: Practical workshops on 21 April and 2 June and regularly thereafter, to help parish activities and outreach start up again
- Kindle the Fire: Online prayer for the eve of Pentecost to mark the launch of Caritas
- Lend an Ear: A diocesan listening campaign to rebuild social friendship and understanding after the pandemic
- The Word and the Common Good: Workshops on Scripture and Catholic Social Teaching on Monday evenings in June and July
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Many thanks to everyone who has already responded to the diocesan survey. There is plenty of room for more responses.
It can be completed in ten minutes. People tell us they are finding it offers a valuable opportunity to reflect on the last year.
However long you want to give it, click below to share your story. |  |
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Kindle the fire of Love
Join us on the eve of Pentecost, 22 May 2021, for a special interactive online service to mark the launch of Caritas. Find out how you can grow the Church's mission of justice and charity. Book your place today. |  |
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 | Lend an ear
From Pentecost 2021, you'll be receiving an invitation to join our listening campaign. We'll engage people in conversation on some of the important questions in the current survey - both in our parish congregations and in the community at large. |
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Here: Now: Us is a three-part programme to help your parish grow as a confident, outward-looking community, and invest in the leadership of lay people: - The Word and the Common Good, a practical seven-week programme of Scripture-based workshops on Catholic social teaching, starts on 7 June 2021 on Zoom
- A Saturday workshop in your parish when Covid restrictions allow
- Support for your post-pandemic mission and outreach through Caritas.
If you'd like to find out more, visit our website, or click below to book for a forthcoming Open Evening, all 7.00 - 8.00 p.m.: - Tuesday 13 April
- Monday 26 April
- Monday 17 May
Better still, encourage a few of your fellow parishioners to come too, and join up as a parish group. |
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 | | Prepare the Future: two new workshops Prepare the Future workshops offer ideas, practical advice and mutual support for re-opening your parish for mission after lockdown. They're open to everyone in the diocese, and take place on Zoom. We're now going to run them monthly to keep pace with demand! Here are details of the next two. |
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Wednesday 21 April 20213.30 - 5.00 p.m.
Regeneration for post-Covid mission The forthcoming workshop will be a buffet of opportunities that might be relevant to your parish: - Two's Company: setting up a parish telephone befriending scheme
- Parish Councils: organising for mission in the post-Covid Church
- Building a Census and skills audit for the post-pandemic parish
Subject to demand we'll also touch on: - Opening a drop-in centre or listening café in your parish hall
- Renovating and upgrading parish facilities for outreach
- Power of Four: a model for mutual aid in the parish and beyond
- Lend an Ear: plans for the diocesan Caritas listening campaign.
Scroll down for a link to the booking form, where you can let us know which topics interest you most. |
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Wednesday 2 June 2021
3.30 - 5.00 p.m.
Open with Care
Resuming parish life in the 'new normal'
In late June the government hopes to relax the restrictions that have prevented most parish activities taking place. It will be the moment when many parish facilities and groups can start up again.
Open with Care on 2 June will help you ensure that your church premises and the things that happen in it are as safe and healthy as possible, and fulfil the government guidance.
We'll be joined by Catherine Scholes from the diocesan property office. Having guided us through lockdown, she'll now be helping us make plans to re-open.
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There's three more elements of Revolution of Tenderness to tell you about, but we'll save them up for later: - Caritas Friends: Find support and inspiration to nourish your vocation and live the Gospel
- Renew the parish: Post-pandemic mission planning workshops
- Thy Kingdom come: Build back better with the Gospel, in care for Creation, justice and peace.
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Finally, in other news... |
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 | A relay of young (and not-so-young) walkers, supported by CAFOD, is travelling through our diocese at the end of August and in early September. The Young Christian Climate Network are forming a relay from the G7 summit in Cornwall to the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. They are walking for an end to the injustice of climate change - and indeed for their own future. We're blessed to have these young people passing through our diocese. Could you be a blessing to them in return? There are a variety of ways you can help, especially If you are on the route through the diocese: - Netherseal
- Aston-on-Trent
- Melbourne
- Nottingham
- Hucknall
- Sutton-in-Ashfield
They're looking for accommodation overnight in or near these places, people to cheer them on in between, and many other kinds of practical help which can be done from anywhere. |
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| Give a Catholic charity a chance of £3,000
The annual Catholic Charity Conference can't take place this year, so instead the organisers are offering three awards of £3,000 each, to charities which have 'gone the extra mile' in the pandemic. They are looking to reward those which have demonstrated:
- Best digital transformation by moving their business online
- Most innovative response to the pandemic, in what they do or how they do it
- Best outreach programme or activity in its contribution to the local community
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 | The Catholic foundation Fellowship and Aid to the Christians of the East (FACE) is hosting a webinar on Saturday 24 April, 10.00 - 11.30 a.m. with: - His Beatitude Louis Raphaël Cardinal Sako, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, and
- His Eminence Cardinal Michael Fitzgerald M.Afr., Patron of FACE
FACE warmly invite parishioners from Nottingham Diocese to this opportunity to hear about life for Catholics in the Middle East.
Cardinal Sako recently hosted Pope Francis's recent apostolic visit to Iraq. He faces the challenge of leading an Eastern Church in a highly charged and often changing situation, which has witnessed the mass exodus of Eastern Christians from their homelands where Christianity was first spread.
The webinar takes place on Zoom. Please book your place via the link below. |
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