English and Welsh Bishops: 2020 will be “Year of the Word”
By Joachim Teigen
The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales will dedicate the year 2020 to Sacred Scripture.
The initiative, announced in February 2019, has been given the name “The God Who Speaks”, and takes place in cooperation with the British Bible Society. Several events are scheduled throughout the year to “celebrate, live and share” the Word of God.
Two great anniversaries
The year will also serve to commemorate two important anniversaries of Scripture’s role in the Church.
2020 will mark the 10th anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini.
It is also the 1,600 anniversary of St. Jerome’s death, whose Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible would go on to serve the Western Church up until the last century.
On 30 September 2019, the feast of St. Jerome, the Bishops’ initiative will be officially launched, and on 1 December, the First Sunday of Advent, the campaign year begins.
“Celebrating, living and sharing the Word”
In order to shape the resources and events of the year, the Bishops of England and Wales invite Catholics and all who are interested to take part in a survey on how they use Scripture in their daily lives.
As such, details of the events are yet to be announced. What the Bishops have said is that the events and resources will be centred around three themes in approaching the Word of God: celebrating, living and sharing.
Parishes throughout the country are invited to reflect on how they celebrate, live and share the Word, and to ask themselves where to improve so as to “achieve transformation in our hearts and in our communities”.
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