Page 17 - LOTN Spring Issue 49 2022

FAITH IN ACTION

Running Alpha at St Mary's Cathedral

Cathedral Administrator, Fr Keith Herrera and Alpha Coordinator, Catherine Fielding

Many Catholic parishes have seen Alpha have a important for that. And then forming leaders, taking people
transformative effect on their community, by both welcoming up to become part of the team. So for me, it’s not just a plug
people who have never heard the gospel message before and in and play course; it’s multifaceted and really does hit a lot of
reawakening the faith in those who have. In the following the key areas that we need to work on as a parish.
interview Fr Keith Herrera and Catherine Fielding of St Mary's
Cathedral, Aberdeen share their experience of running Alpha. Catherine: Someone asked me the question once, ‘well, why
can’t we just do Alpha in a weekend?’ They really wanted to
get Alpha done and tick that box for whatever reason. There’s
Could you just tell us a bit about what your parish is a reason it’s done over 11 weeks and it’s because each week
like? you grow in community in friendship and that just deepens
as each week goes on.
Fr Keith: It’s a very large parish in the centre of the City so it
brings in people from all different parishes from a very wide
catchment area. There are a lot of visitors and so a big chal-
lenge is forming community and a sense of belonging. Patience and perseverance

Catherine: It’s a very transient community; with the oil and investing in people I
industry it’s people coming and going so to get that real think is crucial to the success
sense of belonging - you just get to know someone and they of it
leave, you know? So trying to establish that within that kind
of community is, I would say, even harder because friendships
are coming and going.
How did you find starting Alpha?
Catherine: With Alpha and implementing it, it takes pa-

For me, it’s not just a plug tience and perseverance. If we expected to produce the fruit
in and play course, it’s after our first two, even three Alphas, I’d say we would have
multifaceted and really does quit and stopped. But, patience and perseverance and invest-
hit a lot of the key areas that ing in people I think is crucial to the success of it, and not just
we need to work on as a wanting things instantaneously.
parish Fr Keith: If anybody wants to become a Catholic, I ask them
to do Alpha first. So, that’s the first part of the Rite of Christian
Initiation of Adults, because it is the proclamation of the gos-
pel, and that’s what Alpha does over and over again in every
single one of its sessions. And so the RCIA states that before
How has Alpha helped you to create that sense of be- people start doing the catechesis, there has to be a proclama-
longing and community at the Cathedral? tion of the gospel, to hear the gospel, so I ask them to do that.

Fr Keith: For me, it serves so many functions: the encounter In the Alpha, there are people that come in and we don’t
with Christ, the personal relationship side which is critical, know where they’re coming from. So there are people who
the forming of friendships and so developing that sense of are not Catholic who want to become Catholic who we didn’t
community and sense of belonging - the meal being so, so know about, or who are just interested in the faith.

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