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: