By Hannah Hayward
Over 150 people from all over the UK gathered at Leeds Trinity University to explore evangelisation in a post-Christendom culture. As part of the university’s Catholic mission, the vision for the Trinity Conference (which was first launched online in 2021) is to provide a UK-based platform for the Church to speak on contemporary issues facing those working on the front line of the Church’s mission today.
This year’s conference took an honest look at the cultural reality of the Church in West- we are no longer in a Christian society where certain values, assumptions and privileges are taken for granted. We are, in fact, in a society more akin to the first centuries of the Church, where the Gospel proclamation was a subversive and, oftentimes, dangerous task.
The university’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Charles Egbu, opened proceedings with a reflection on the critical task of understanding the wider political, social and cultural environment in order to respond effectively to it. To reawaken the Catholic vision across our schools, parishes and families requires a firm grasp on the implications of a post-Christian era.
Delegates were then led in prayer by the Chair for Department of Evangelisation and Discipleship for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, Archbishop Mark O’Toole, who reminded us of the great adventure of falling in love with Christ.
The keynote address was given by acclaimed co-author of From Christendom to Apostolic Mission, Monsignor James Shea. He gave a phenomenal account of the post-Christian reality that the Church finds herself in. He called out the “intellectual wounds” of our time, where our culture has systematically rejected the doctrine of original sin (and therefore the necessity for a Saviour) and has pursued a narrative of self-determination which has no need for God.
He reminded us of the Church as the mystical body of Christ, which takes in to herself all the sufferings of the world and transforms it by the redemptive power of grace. He reminded us that we, though weak, belong to a body made up of saints, a redeemed people, and that we are called to be caught up in that same dynamic of being restored in Christ, bringing the culture with us.
The rest of the day’s input was given through this interpretive lens of a post-Christendom age. Dr Hannah Vaughan-Spruce from Divine Renovation UK spoke about the spiritual detox that parishes must undergo to become apostolic. Claire Fernandes from the Celebrate Trust spoke on how parents can be intentional about introducing their children to the person of Jesus at home.
Chris Martin, headteacher at St Thomas Aquinas School in Birmingham, spoke about the unique vocation of Catholic schools today in proclaiming to over 800,000 school children in this country that they are unconditionally loved by God. Dr Ann Marie Mealey then spoke about the work of the Catholic Mission Directorate at Leeds Trinity University, how young people are keen to engage in the work of social justice and the search for truth, and the importance of deepening our spirituality and prayer life to maintain good mental health as we promote mission in HE today.
Finally Dr Greg Stacey proposed a great challenge to the traditional catechetical model of ‘question and answer’, and instead suggested that different groups of people are in Church for different reasons and so building teams of catechists who have proficiency in responding to various lines of enquiry on varying levels is the task of contemporary catechesis.
The day was packed with a feast of high-quality content and so it was good to end the day simply and reverently at the feet of Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration, led by the Youth 2000 mission team. By bringing our hearts to Jesus at the end of the day, we were reminded that it is the Holy Spirit who evangelises, and He begins with each one of us.
Our God lives and moves and evangelises in every age, including our own.
Picture: Monsignor James Shea