Running Alpha at Aberdeen Catholic Cathedral: ‘This is about that front door’

We catch up with Fr Keith and Catherine to ask them about their experience of running Alpha at St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral, Aberdeen.

Could you just tell us a bit about what your parish is like?

Fr Keith: It’s a very large parish in the centre of town 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 challenge is forming community and a sense of belonging. 

Catherine: It’s a very transient community, with the oil industry it’s people coming and going so to get that real sense of belonging - you just get to know someone and they 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.

‘For me, it’s not just a plug in and play course, it’s multifaceted and really does hit a lot of the key areas that we need to work on as a parish.’

How has Alpha helped you to create that sense of belonging and community at the Cathedral? 

Fr Keith: For me, it serves so many functions: the encounter with Christ, the personal relationship side which is critical, the forming of friendships and so developing that sense of community and sense of belonging - the meal being so, so important for that. And then forming leaders, taking people up to become part of the team. So for me, it’s not just a plug in and play course; it’s multifaceted and really does hit a lot of the key areas that we need to work on as a parish.

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 a reason it’s done over 11 weeks and it’s because each week you grow in community in friendship and that just deepens as each week goes on.

‘Patience and perseverance and investing in people I think is crucial to the success of it.’

How did you find starting Alpha?

Catherine: With Alpha and implementing it, it takes patience and perseverance. If we expected to produce the fruit after our first two, even three Alphas, I’d say we would have quit and stopped. But, patience and perseverance and investing in people I think is crucial to the success of it, and not just wanting things instantaneously.

‘There’s a constant flow of people coming into the Church as a result of having done Alpha.’

Have you seen many people join the church through Alpha?

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 gospel, and that’s what Alpha does over and over again in every single one of its sessions. And so the RCIA states that before people start doing the catechesis, there has to be a proclamation of the gospel, to hear the gospel, so I ask them to do that.

In the Alpha, there are people that come in and we don’t know where they’re coming from. So there are people who are not Catholic who want to become Catholic who we didn’t know about, or who are just interested in the faith.

With running Alpha, we have to have multiple RCIA courses. So we’ve had three courses running at the same time because after every Alpha we start an RCIA. And so there’ll be three or four - this next group I think is eight people. There’s a constant flow of people coming into the Church as a result of having done Alpha. 

‘Slowly it’s happening where people invite their friends, invite those family members - invite whoever - to come and see what it’s all about.’

What difficulties have you experienced trying to grow Alpha?

Catherine: This culture of invitation is something that we’re continuously working on - it’s hard to change the culture but Slowly it’s happening where people invite their friends, invite those family members - invite whoever - to come and see what it’s all about.

Fr Keith: Whatever parish I’ve been in, I’ve always started it small. At the moment fifty or so might come to an Alpha, but when starting off try not to be worried about numbers. Get a couple of people together, get a small team and that’s basically what I’ve done. I’ve tended to go from small and tried to build something solid from small and allow it gradually to transform parishes.

‘We extend the invitation and the rest is in God’s hands.’

What do you say to people who think that Alpha is not Catholic?

Catherine: We’re not teaching Catholicism. We’re not catechising people. This is about that front door - we’re opening the front door. We’re just there to teach them the basic message of Christianity and that’s it. 

First, they need to develop and know who Jesus is and fall in love with that and that sense of community and belonging. Then you can bring them on into other things within the Catholic Church. We extend the invitation and the rest is in God’s hands. We’re always extending that invitation and what people do with it is up to them.

Fr Keith: It isn’t catechesis, it’s initial proclamation. So we’re introducing them to Jesus Christ, to His death and resurrection, inviting them to step into that and to respond to what Jesus has done for them.

It’s the beginning, it’s Alpha, it’s not the end, it’s the start of the journey so Alpha is never sufficient on its own, it might do something good for somebody but we have to take them on to the next step. So if they’re not a Catholic, we take them to RCIA. Always we’re trying to take them into a group like a connect group, where they can be part of a community so what they’ve experienced in Alpha can continue on a regular basis, so they can grow. It’s always the beginning, not the end. 

‘It’s no longer the tick box of people just going to Church on Sunday, this opens up a whole new way of being Catholic and belonging to the Church.’ 

How do you think Alpha has helped the already practising Catholics that go to the Cathedral?

Catherine: It reignites their pilot light, brings them into a sense of community in the parish, brings them on team, develops them as leaders and just engages them. A lot of the time they don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus so it really opens up a lot of areas. 

It’s no longer the tick box of people just going to Church on Sunday, this opens up a whole new way of being Catholic and belonging to the Church. Not just coming to Church on Sunday - there’s so much more involved than just doing your Sunday obligation. It just creates that joy - you can see that joy of people who have done Alpha - you just see it extending on to others in such an amazing way.