EVERY HOUSE in the Dublin archdiocese is to be visited by a representative of the Catholic Church next year as part of a major programme of evangelisation announced by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, yesterday.
Typical church representatives involved in the visits are likely to include priests, other members of religious orders, as well as male and female lay people.
Outlining details of the new "outreach" programme, which will be the first of its kind in Dublin and will also include a new diocesan office for evangelisation, Dr Martin said there was a true sense in which the archdiocese of Dublin was "mission territory".
"A few years ago, many would have thought that type of affirmation somewhat exaggerated, but today, so many of those who were baptised as Christians no longer really know Jesus and their way of living demonstrates that the message of Jesus touches their lives only in a marginal way," he said.
"Our consumerist world needs an injection of idealism and generosity. Our world needs God.
"I will be inviting every parish in the diocese to join in a common programme of missionary outreach and evangelisation during the year 2009, like that which has been carried out in a number of European capitals over the past years. Every aspect of diocesan life and of the diocesan administration will be focused on that programme."
In his homily at the Chrism Mass, which took place in the Pro Cathedral in Dublin yesterday, Dr Martin added that renewal in the diocese meant "reaching out to as many people as possible in a missionary spirit".
He said: "The project to establish parish pastoral councils in every parish in the diocese has exceeded my own expectations and I thank all those who have ensured that these councils are seen not just as administrative or procedural bodies, but as true instruments of evangelisation.
"It is my intention to establish, by this summer, a diocesan pastoral council which will be to me as archbishop what a parish pastoral council is in a parish, particularly in assisting me in the process of renewal and mission across the diocese."
"The current parish development and renewal, which has done such great work since its introduction, will be integrated into a new diocesan office for evangelisation, which will provide technical and resource back-up for the new missionary outreach and will help co-ordinate the work of education in the faith, liturgical and scriptural animation, outreach to young people and our work for justice and charity."
Dr Martin said that by autumn, he hoped that the church would be ready to receive its first candidates for a permanent diaconate.
"At the same time, a programme will be launched beginning in the summer for training lay people who wish, on a full-time basis, to enrich our pastoral service within parishes through their specific charisma as lay persons," he added.
Speaking to RTÉ after the ceremony, the archbishop said he wished to see that the church appeared "more and more" as a caring church.
Asked about recent calls for the Catholic bishops to repent as a body for past abuses of power, Dr Martin said apologies came "as part of a process".
"People will only believe an apology if they see that things have changed. I think that's our first stage - to see that mistakes that were made in the past don't happen again, that the church does appear as a more caring church, preaching the essence of the message . . . when you do that, then apologies have more meaning."