Welcome!

I am sending you a warm welcome as the Catholic Bishop of Girona, where you have chosen to come to relax for a few days or weeks, and where you can make the most of everything to help you enjoy this time to the full.

I would like to wish you, your family and everyone with you a happy holiday.

I wondre if I could suggest some thoughts to help the days you spend here really give you what you have dream of, including something unexpected, and addet gift.

You enter in one of our churches, either to pray, to take part in a Sunday service, or simply to visit it.

For centuries the church in our country has carried out the mission of de Lord, "go forth and teach", "go forth and baptise", go forth and heal", to bring salvation to each generation.

Today we are continuing with this mission through around 400 parish communities, 200 clergy, some deacons, religious life institutes, ecclesiastical outhreach movements and all the Christian training actions, through the Holly sacraments, our services, and with particular focus on evangelising. It is a matter of urgency to help the whole world rediscover the Good News about Jesus, the Good News of the Salvation, which we bear witness to, and whith at the same times we sometimes also unfortunately distort through  our weaknesses.

If you are a member of our Church, we welcome you with all our affection as our brother or sister and we offer you whatever pastoral care and attention you may require. You will find everything you need in our parish churches to nourish your Christian life over these days. Your presence during our services gives us courage and allows us to experience the scale of the Catholic world in our community.

If you are a member of some other Christian confession, we welcome you with a fraternal embrace, in the knowledge that we serve a single Lord, who prepares the paths to full unity in mysterious ways. We make our churches available to you so that you can find silent spaces where you can pray and enjoy the beauty of faith expressed in so many works of art.

If you are from another religion, we hope that our art and culture will show you that religion has found its place in our villages and cities, and are a sing of its importance in the present and of its impact on the lives of our people and towns.

All of us together can discover, in Nature and above all in people, the first love letter from God to humanity.

A heartfelt greeting to all those of you who, in your search for the treasures of life, have not found the manifestation of God, or have not seen it as Good News. May the experience of relaxation, beauty and your visit to our churches encourage you to seek answers to the great questions of existence.

Resting your body and soul is not something that prevents you from continuing this quest, in fact quite the reserve, it helps it. I am sure you are not happy to be a simple spectator of life in our globalised society, but rather that you want to leave your mark, assuming your responsabilities, work, lifestyle, and being socially and politically involved. And this is just as much at the times  when you are most busy as when you are resting, as at this time you are hoping to enjoy.

So let us see each other as brothers, with particular focus on those who will be serving you over your stay here and making your visit more pleasant. Discover our identity, our deep Christian roots, be amazed at the works of art that faith and our social and cultural life have produced in great harmony. Be impressed by everything you see, and above all by the qualities and values of our people. Be aware too of the shared challenges we face.

In this way you will not only be a temporary visitor but also a brother, a sister, a friend, someone who will find their home among us.

This is my hope. I ask the Lord for it and pray that the members of my diocese will help it become a reality.

At your service, with my affection and blessing.

Francesc, bishop of Girona