Hope in the Future
Forming Missionary Disciples, Building Missionary Parishes
Hope in the Future is an invitation to every parish in the diocese to recognise and develop their missionary identity and their call to evangelise.
The programme was formally launched on the feast of St Francis on 4th October 2017. Bishop John led a Celebration of the Word of God, which took place at the cathedral, during which all parishes were presented with a San Damiano cross for each church to remember Jesus’ call of St Francis to ‘Rebuild my Church’.
In his homily – which you can read here – Bishop John explored more about what it meant to be a missionary disciple and how this programme could rebuild our church within our diocese.
The Five Stages
The programme has been divided into five stages, each with a different focus and aim to help parishes grow and develop in their own time.
By the end of this journey, it is hoped that we will have a programme that has resources for parishes wherever they are at this time. Some parishes will be leading the way, others may not be able to follow at this time but will be able to start this process in the future.
You can find out more about the five stages by clicking here.
If your parish is just beginning its Hope in the Future journey, you can find resources for each of our stages by clicking here.
Prayer
First and foremost, this process needs to be rooted in prayer and sustained by prayer, which is why we are encouraged to pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. There is a particular novena as a resource to help us do this, or you may prefer to use the following prayer:
To view our latest Hope in the Future Cycle of Prayer, please click here.
To view the Hope in the Future Legacy Resource, please click here.
Contact Us
For any additional resources for your parish or school, or to find out more about how you can get involved, please contact us.
Address: Department for Formation, Cathedral Centre, 3 Ford Street, M3 6DP
Tel: 0161 817 2222 (ext. 246) or 07741 147 496
E-mail: hope@dioceseofsalford.org.uk
