 |
 Sacred
Heart
Parish
Church
in Hemsworth,
West Yorkshire
was the venue on Saturday April 28th for a workshop entitled The Heart of Parenting, The Heart of God. Jointly organised by the
Dioceses of Hallam and
Leeds
as part of their Home is a Holy
Place initiatives, the event was designed to bring theological
reflection on the domestic church out into the homes and parishes of
family life.
Over 50 people, some from as far away as
South Wales
, listened to Fr Daniel O’Leary, author and Tablet columnist, describe
God’s life as incarnated in the family. “It is in our ordinary lives
that we are closest to God,” he said. “We sometimes think that doing
the holy things, in the holy places, with the holy people, is holier than
cleaning up the mess at home, preparing meals, going out to work, getting
on with the neighbours. This is not so. Home is the holiest of all
places.” He also noted the
potential of Home is a Holy Place
to change the face of the church in
England
and
Wales. “This vision is so attractive; it makes us fall in love with God
again.”
 "Parenting,
home, family and marriage are the places where the most important things
in our lives happen and are therefore the places that God is most
intensely living in and present to. You know it in a way that is deep
within you; my only contribution today is to somehow put words on it, to
put a name on it and to link it deeply with the way you love Jesus, and
the way you follow Christ and the way you try to be before God. The family
is already the sanctuary of God’s presence. We come to church to be told
that, to celebrate that, to purify that, to help us go back and see it
more clearly."
Jackie
Nithsdail, from Cross Gates in
Leeds
, was one of several parents who found the day encouraging. “We
underestimate our ordinary lives,” she said. “I always feel that I
should be doing something more. It was quite inspirational to think that
we should be praising God for our ordinariness.” “For me the very
interesting thing was to reflect on what it really means to talk about God
incarnate in our world,” said Mgr Peter Rosser, Episcopal Vicar for
Christian Life in the Diocese of Leeds. “That’s increasingly important
in the secular world in which we live.”
Margarita Lewis and her husband Huw had driven from
Swansea to take part in the workshop - but why travel all that distance?
"I wanted to see if this family ministry had anything to
offer. The way Fr Donal spoke this morning was more than I had imagined -
it was so wholesome. He spoke of the God that I love, that somewhere deep
inside of me drives me on. I do believe that our churches are very often
cold places and yet the heart of God is so warm towards us."
Collaboration between the two dioceses will continue in a series of
mini-workshops on Home is a Holy Place
in June and July.
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