Thy Kingdom Come 2018

The Council of Bishops encourages participation by Society parishes

Prayer lies at the heart of all we do as Christians, and in a church that is coming alive afresh to the priority of mission, that rootedness in prayer is more important than ever. This is why we are so keen that parishes of The Society play a part in the Archbishops’ initiative ‘Thy Kingdom Come'. Between Ascension and Pentecost, as we look for the coming of the Holy Spirit, we are invited to set time aside to pray for the evangelization of our nation. This time of focused prayer has become a major ecumenical initiative. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales is committed to it, as are the majority of free churches.

We hope that you and your people will want to share in this huge wave of prayer. There will be many ways of doing this. You may want to offer Mass during the course of these ten days or hold some other public devotion. You may want to invite your people to share in ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ within their private devotions. You may well want to join in with other Society parishes or ecumenical partners to pray with others. Liturgical resources produced by the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham include:

• Vigil Service
• Eucharist Propers for The Mission of the Church
• The 40 Hours Devotion
• Eucharist Propers for Mary, Mother of the Mission of the Church
• The Rosary - Thy Kingdom Come

If you arrange something, you may also wish to register it on the Thy Kingdom Come website.

Parishes of The Society running events as part of this iniative are ecouraged to use the hashtags #TheSociety and #ThyKingdomCome when promoting them on social media.

+TONY WAKEFIELD

The Rt Revd Tony Robinson

Chairman of the Council of Bishops