This year Canon Agley has found great hope in the people seeking to be received into the Church.
This Wave of Hope Advent reflection comes from Canon William Agley, General Secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
Canon Agley reflects on a busy year that has seen him move from the north east, where he was a parish priest in Newcastle, to London to take up his appointment as the new General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference.
This year, he has found great hope in the people seeking to be received into the Church:
“It has been a great joy to accompany an increasing number of people who are coming to faith in Jesus Christ and to His Church. To witness their growth in faith during their preparation and to baptise or receive them into the Church has filled me with the certain hope that the Holy Spirit is alive and active in the world.”
Wave of Hope offers 25 short multimedia reflections for the season – one a day – as our contributors share a moment in 2025 that has led them to a place of hope.
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Hello, I’m Canon William Agley, General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
This year has been a time of change for me as I moved from being a parish priest in the north east of England to the Bishops’ Conference in London.
This year, what gave me the most hope were the signs of growth I’ve seen in the Church – locally, nationally, and internationally. As a parish priest, it has been a great joy to accompany an increasing number of people, many of whom have little or no experience of Christianity, but who are coming to faith in Jesus Christ and to His Church. To witness their growth in faith during their preparation and to baptise or receive them into the Church has filled me with the certain hope that the Holy Spirit is alive and active in the world.
As the year has gone on, that hope has been reinforced, as it has become clear that what is now being called the ‘quiet revival’ is not limited to one parish or diocese, but is something much broader.
In May this year, I also had the privilege of being in St Peter’s Square as Pope Leo was elected. The joy and the hope that filled the crowd was tangible and overwhelming, and reassured me once again that faith in God and in His Church is still growing and flourishing. I pray that in this coming year, this quiet revival may become louder as more people are led to fan into a flame the gift of God which is in them, as as St Paul puts it.
Nikki Dhillon Keane is a therapist, trainer, author, activist and founder of 'Safe in Faith'.
Canon Chris Vipers is Director of the Diocese of Westminster's Agency for Evangelisation.
Bishop Nowakowski is Bishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Family of London.
