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Bishops' of England and Wales launch campaign uniting mothers everywhere who pray for their children to come back to the Church for Christmas.

LONDON (Zenit.org) - The bishops' conference of England and Wales is sponsoring a campaign uniting mothers everywhere who pray for their children to come back to the Church for Christmas.

This initiative is part of the larger annual "Come Home For Christmas" campaign started in 2007 as an outreach to lapsed Catholics who no longer attend Mass. It is being resourced by the conference's Catholic Agency to Support Evangelization.

The campaign has seen great success since it began, and this year a special role is being given to Catholic mothers.

Bishop Kieran Conry of the Arundel and Brighton Diocese in England, head of the conference's Department for Evangelization and Catechesis, explained how the campaign finds an inspiration in St. Monica.

"St. Monica is the patron saint of resting Catholics," he affirmed. "She was a faithful wife and mother who prayed for years for her son to embrace the Christian faith."

"God answered her pleas," the prelate said, "and St. Augustine became a great role model for generations of Christians throughout the ages."

He continued: "Monica reminds each one of us of the importance and power of Christian prayer, but also of the necessity to be patient.

"She teaches us that no matter how long it takes we are to be positively engaged -- through prayer, love and invitation -- in supporting those who are 'resting' Catholics to reconnect with their local Christian community."

Novena

The bishop encouraged all people, but mothers in particular, to participate in a novena of prayer from Dec. 12 to Dec. 20.

He added, "By the grace of God let's pray that thousands experience a deep encounter with the living God and that the invitations we issue to 'come home' are warmly received."

The evangelization agency is offering attractive posters and invitation cards for parishes, as well as a Web site that serves as a portal for those that want to reconnect with parish life.

Other groups are partnering with the agency in this campaign, including Mothers' Prayers, the National Board of Catholic Women and The Union of Catholic Mothers.

Veronica Williams, the founder of Mothers' Prayers, affirmed, "We know that prayer works and are therefore very happy to support this initiative by promoting this novena.

"In our network we have hundreds and thousands of mothers praying in small groups united in prayer, and we have seen many mothers who because of their concern for their children come to our prayer groups and rediscover their faith."