A letter from Bishop David - Dec 2024

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I still have many fond memories of my pastoral visitation of your parishes in the early months of this year. Following these visits, representatives of each parish were able to gather together in St Clare’s church, Aylesbury in March 2024. I very much desired your parishes to echo what Pope Francis said about parishes in his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium:

“The parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it possesses great flexibility, it can assume quite different contours depending on the openness and missionary creativity of the pastor and the community… In all its activities the parish encourages and trains its members to be evangelisers. It is a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey, and a centre of constant missionary outreach. We must admit, though, that the call to review and renew our parishes has not yet sufficed to bring them nearer to people, to make them environments of living communion and participation, and to make them completely mission-oriented.” (EG 28)

Aylesbury is growing, our congregations are changing, and we need to make provision for the future. We need new wineskins for new wine. This was part of Pope Francis’s challenge to become a more listening, discerning church, which began with the synod listening in January 2022 and includes our diocesan Assembly in July 2023.

Across the pastoral area, 400 people took part in listening exercises in 16 different groups and all the ages, sharing their concerns and their dreams for the future. What emerged from our listening process was a desire for resilient Catholic communities, rooted in faith, and dynamic in mission. There was appreciation for our diverse communities and strong schools, the significant social outreach, ecumenism, and youth ministry of particular parishes, as well as our commitment to pastoral care in the hospital, nursing homes, and prison. However, there was sadness over reducing numbers of Catholics, and genuine concerns about how to reach out to the many people moving into the area; for the state of our properties, especially our halls; for a more joined-up approach to reaching our young people; and for better communication, both between parishes and outward-facing to the wider community. We want to be a presence in our local community with a vision for the future to meet the challenges of our rapidly changing area. We want to be salt and light, a leaven in our society.

My sincere gratitude to all who took part, and in particular those involved in the different working parties who have worked so hard over the last few months. At the final meeting of the process on 21st November, I was delighted to accept in full the recommendations of the process. We reflected together on some changes in the coming year. After 25 yrs of ministry in Aylesbury, and many more serving other parishes in the diocese, the pastoral area dean will enter retirement in Sep 2025. There will surely be an opportunity for us to celebrate his long and distinguished ministry.

In response to the listening process, certain priorities have emerged. Local teams for youth, mission and communications will be developed. Newsletters will advertise groups and events happening across the pastoral area. It is hoped there will be a monthly youth Mass, and missionary activities include a local Alpha group. The three parishes in Aylesbury will become one by September 2026, over a staged process, and without closing any churches. There will be one parish priest of Aylesbury. As he will need an assistant priest, a more appropriate house will be sought for them to live together in community, with some measure of personal independence.

At the point when St Joseph’s ceases to be a priest’s home, thought will be given to the long term use, particularly given its excellent location for mission and social action to the town centre of Aylesbury.

The parishes of St Anne’s Wendover and St Teresa’s Princes Risborough will be twinned in due course. The parishes of Long Crendon and Haddenham will retain their current arrangement for the time being.

Parish councils will be key to putting the strategy into action. Every parish is asked to set up a pastoral council if there is not one already, and to write their own plan in response to the strategy. There will be a retreat day in March to bring together the parish and pastoral area councils for prayer and reflection on the strategy. These new activities will be supported by a new Pastoral Area Lead Admin role and a new approach to funding pastoral areas. A grant of £1000 will be made available as seed-corn funding to allow an immediate start to activities.

I will attend the Pastoral Area Council meeting in twelve months time to receive an update, and I am looking forward to receiving regular updates during the coming year. This listening process has been a pilot for our vision of discerning the future shape of the diocese. It will need to be repeated in different forms across the diocese. It has been encouraging to see how this process has developed in the Aylesbury Pastoral Area. And I beg you to pray that your parishes will grow ever stronger in witness and mission in the months to come. As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, may our Infant Saviour bless each of you with His abundant graces.

Yours devotedly in Christ,

✠ David J Oakley

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Key Changes Summary:

• The three Aylesbury parishes will merge into one by September 2026, maintaining all church buildings

• St Anne’s Wendover and St Teresa’s Princes Risborough will be twinned

• Long Crendon and Haddenham parishes will maintain their current arrangement

• The pastoral area dean will retire in September 2025 after 25 years of service

• New initiatives include:

  • Formation of local teams for youth, mission, and communications

  • Introduction of a monthly youth Mass

  • Creation of a local Alpha group

  • New Pastoral Area Lead Admin role

  • £1,000 seed funding for immediate activities

• Parish councils will be established where they don’t exist

• A retreat day is planned for March for council members

PILGRIMS OF HOPE WITH EVERYTHING WE NEED

On Christmas Eve 2024, Pope Francis inaugurated the Jubilee year 2025 with the opening of the holy door at St Peter’s Basilica. There will be five holy doors across the four major Basilica’s in Rome; St Peter’s, St Mary Major, St John Lateran and St Paul outside the Walls. The fifth holy door will be at Rebibbia Prison in Rome.

The Holy door has been concretely sealed since the last jubilee year, an extraordinary jubilee in 2016, the year of mercy. Passing through a holy door symbolises entering a new life with Christ, beginning a path of conversion and reconciliation.

The papal bull for the Jubilee Spes non confundit, explains that the Pope will begin the ordinary jubilee year with this liturgical action, taking place once every 25 years. The jubilee year will end with the closing of the holy door on the Solemnity of Epiphany on the 26th January 2026.

The theme for the year is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. Bishop David began the jubilee year for our diocese on 29 December, the Feast of the Holy Family, with the Solemn opening at Northampton Cathedral. He said:

“Our hope needs to be constantly fed with the loving words of the Lord. As Jesus taught us, ‘Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake?’ Our heavenly Father gives us everything we need for the journey as pilgrims of hope”.

During the jubilee year, Catholics are encouraged to make a pilgrimage to Rome to obtain indulgences. Our diocese travels on pilgrimage to Rome in March 2025. Click here to join the pilgrimage.

Other ways in which Catholics can obtain an indulgence include making a pilgrimage to our Cathedral in Northampton or one of the other designated holy sites across our diocese, St Joseph and the Child Jesus in Bedford and St Peter’s Catholic Church in Marlow. Other ways include: performing works of mercy or acts of penance and sacrifice.

Catholic indulgences are spiritual benefits offered by the Church to lessen the temporal consequences of sins, drawing from the “treasury of merit” accumulated by Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints. They are obtained through particular acts of prayer, penance, or charity, typically alongside sacramental confession and receiving the Eucharist. Although indulgences do not absolve sins, they are intended to promote spiritual renewal and a deeper separation from sin.

Bishop David ended by saying

“And so we pray for each other. We ask the Lord to open our hearts to the many graces he wishes to give to us in this Jubilee Year. We pray for our families, that the longing and yearning of each heart within our family will be moulded to the love, the faith and the hope of the Holy Family”.

Bishops letter June 2024 - Feast of Thomas Becket