Hundreds of priests were today gathering at Butlins to discuss a campaign to boost congregation numbers.

The Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor joined around 400 Roman Catholic clergy for the two-day conference in the Bognor Regis holiday resort, yesterda.

For the first time all the priests from the Archdiocese of Westminister gathered to decide on plans for a three-year programme of meetings to help people renew their faith.

If approved, the "At your word Lord" programme would start in the autumn next year and provide meetings for an estimated 500,000 Catholics living in the archdiocese, which spans north of the Thames to Hertfordshire.

In a speech to the conference, the Cardinal said: "I was determined when I came to this great diocese of Westminster that, in the years I was here, I would not so much write to you letters and documentation and exhortations for evangelisation, but that I would try to initiate and encourage in some form great deeds.

"Courageous actions that open eyes, mean that things happen that we might never have envisaged.

"I want this diocese to go forward and to respond to Pope John Paul's invitation to launch out into the deep."

"A spokesman for the Cardinal said: "The priests have come together because the Cardinal wants to set out his programme of spiritual and pastoral renewal.

"It's a programme of action that will last more than three years, and in which people from across the diocese will get involved to renew their faith commitment. It will demand a lot of hard work.

"The Archbishop does not lie awake at night worrying about congregation numbers.

"However, he has consulted with people in the diocese and has had almost 1,000 positive replies about the programme."

The spokesman: "The priests have gathered at the unlikely venue of Butlins for practical reasons.

He said: "Everyone is very excited about being here.

"It's a very glamorous location and one of the only venues near London that could accommodate 400 of us.

"We're not having much to do with the gaming machines, but it is great."

The Cardinal led a similar programme of faith renewal in his last diocese of Brighton and Arundel.