The Archdiocese of Liverpool has announced that it will launch a major evangelisation drive in Lent along with 11 other metropolitan dioceses in Europe. The drive is part of a continent-wide pilot scheme promoted by the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation in preparation for the October Synod of Bishops on the new evangelisation in Rome. The scheme, known as Missio Metropolis, is the Pontifical Council’s first big project since it was created in 2010. During Lent parishes in the Archdiocese of Liverpool will hold talks, reflections, services and devotions, including early morning Masses at least once a week, with some starting at 6:30am. The Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King will promote the Sacrament of Reconciliation, with extra times of Eucharistic Adoration between 4pm and 5pm on Saturday afternoons. Archbishop Patrick Kelly of Liverpool will preside at Solemn Mass and choral evening prayer at the cathedral on each of the Sundays of Lent. On Saturday evenings in Lent, the archbishop will offer a reflection on the Gospel during a vigil service of sung Office of Readings. This will take place at the Shrine of Blessed Dominic Barberi in Sutton, St Helens. On Friday evenings the archbishop will lead reflections at St Ambrose Barlow church, Astley. On Saturday March 31, the eve of Palm Sunday, the archbishop will give a reflection at a performance of Liszt’s Via Crucis. The other European dioceses participating in the pilot scheme are Barcelona, Budapest, Brussels, Dublin, Cologne, Lisbon, Paris, Turin, Vienna and Warsaw.