New 'Faith Card' promoted by Bishops of England and Wales

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference for England and Wales is launching a new program that will offer a ‘Faith Card’ to the faithful, as a reminder that all the baptised are invited to know and share their faith. One million cards will be made available to all twenty-four Catholic dioceses in England and Wales, including the Bishopric of the Forces and the Ordinariate.

The credit-card-size resource features on one side, a space for the owner to sign, a clear statement that the carrier is a Catholic and a list of six things that Catholics are called to do. There is also a sentence that reads: “In the event of an emergency, please call a Catholic priest.” The other side of the card has a quote from the recently beatified Blessed John Henry Newman, focusing on the call to serve and affirming that everyone has a mission.

“It’s an idea that we had to remind people that they are Catholic,” said Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton, the Chair of the Department for Evangelisation and Catechesis that is spearheading the initiative. “We hope that people will have a better sense of their Catholic identity.”

He said he also hope that it would help spread the message of the Gospel: “It might also be an invitation to others… So we’re hoping it might be an evangelising tool as well.”

The new ‘Faith Card’ gives people an opportunity to re-animate their faith life: “It reminds people that what they are called to do is live their faith,” said Bishop Conry, “as well as just celebrate it in Church, and to express their faith everyday, in the way they live.”

Listen to the complete interview of Bishop Kieran Conry with Christopher Wells: