In 2010 the Catholic Enquiry Centre experienced a surge in the number of people enquiring about the Catholic faith, mainly due to the overwhelmingly positive publicity around the Canonisation of Mary MacKillop.
Since 2010, the Centre has sent catechetical material to 721 enquirers, 63% more than last year’s total enquirers.
The Catholic Enquiry Centre is an agency of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. It offers free catechetical information to those who are not Catholic but are interested in finding out more about the Catholic faith. For those who are ready to become Catholic the Centre is able to put enquirers in contact with their local parish.
Director of the Catholic Enquiry Centre, Marita Winters, says “Our advertising this year has proved to be very, very successful. Not only did we promote the Catholic message through Sunday papers but we also had a full page advertisement in the Australian Womens Weekly, one of Australia’s most popular magazines. Of course the positive publicity around the Canonisation of Mary MacKillop has generated a lot of the increased interest; 27% of all enquiries this year were received during October alone.”
“We are grateful to the Sisters of St Joseph for permission to use Mary MacKillop’s image in our advertising. We hope and pray that St Mary of the Cross will continue to call people to a life of faith in the Catholic tradition, and that the Catholic Enquiry Centre might respond to her command: ‘Never see a need without trying to remedy it’ (Original Rule, 1871)”.
Anyone wanting to find out more about the Catholic faith are welcome to contact the Catholic Enquiry Centre on 1300 4 FAITH (1300 432 484).