Cathedral priest appointed to head Cardinal's new evangelisation agency

BY MARK GREAVES
CARDINAL CORMAC Murphy
O'Connor has appointed a popular cathedral-based priest as the first head of his agency for evangelisation.
Fr Michael O'Bey has been appointed to direct Westminster archdiocese's new Agency for Evangelisation , established as part of an ambitious plan to reinvigorate parish communities.
The agency will be responsible for the formation of adults and young people in faith, and for nur
turing the small communities formed by At Your Word, Lord, a two-and-ahalf year spiritual renewal programme that involved 20,000 members of the diocese.
The Cardinal outlined five "pastoral priorities" earlier this month to help deepen faith, create vibrant communities and encourage vocations to the priesthood across the diocese. The plans were the result of a three-year consultation with the people of the diocese, and were contained in a "White Paper" entitled Communion and Mission: Pastoral Priorities for the Diocese of Westminster.
Fr O'Boy, sub-administra
tor of Westminster Cathedral, will take up his duties in a full-time capacity after Easter. As head of the agency, he will be in charge of implementing two of the Cardinal's five priorities.
"I am deeply aware of the trust which the cardinal has placed in me," he said. "In his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi Pope Paul VI reminded us that evangelising is 'the grace and vocation proper to the
Church'. My hope for the new Agency for Evangelisation is that we will help equip our people with the vocabulary necessary for this task.
"I shall miss the commu nity at Westminster Cathedral but I am looking forward to the challenge of helping our people towards a Christian maturity."
Cardinal MurphyO'Connor has said it is "tragic" that "a very large number of lay people have never really learnt about their faith ever since they left school".