We are gradually revving up in our response to the Council. Whether in the diocese or in clusters of parishes or individual parishes.
Originally we felt that we had been left at the starting post? Other dioceses seemed to have themselves well organised prior to Pentecost the official commencement time of the Plenary.
We now have a coordinating committee in the diocese which comprises of a collective group from around the diocese.
It seems to draw from a mix of male and female and varying backgrounds.
It has the apostle’s number of twelve.
It is picking up momentum in discussion groups etc.
The Econference from Broken Bay was a great starting point for many.
The presenters were excellent and having time in between each talk gave the gathered group the opportunity to talk and come to a better understanding of what is being asked of us. I joined the group at St Brendan’s in Shepparton.
We spent some time discussing aspects of it at our recent Council of Priests meeting. This week at the Spirituality in the Pub meeting in Shepparton we had Phil Billington as our guest speaker.
The topic and the speaker suggested that we would have a large crowd . . . one of the biggest so far for a Spirituality in the Pub presentation. So the enthusiasm is building.
Today we had Lyn Breen, our Adult Faith Facilitator in the diocese, as the guest speaker at our deanery meeting for the Goulburn Valley.
One of our deacons, about to be ordained, gave an excellent presentation on Plenary and its background.
Lyn followed up with practical ways of going into the website to listen to many on the Plenary Council Facilitating Team.
She gave us some very helpful handout material, one in particular will help us on the journey and that is a booklet put out by the Diocese of Parramatta.
They have kindly given us permission to use it and distribute it in our parishes.
They are also intending to have their Lenten Programme on material from the Plenary Council. This will be most helpful as well.
I mentioned above that some parishes will work together in clusters.
The two Shepparton parishes including Dookie, under Fr Joe Taylor, will combine with the west bank parish of Mooroopna under Mons. Peter Jeffrey and further west we, at Sacred Heart Tatura will join the cluster.
I feel that working together and combining our resources we can achieve better outcomes in results and parishioner involvement.
People will need to know exactly what is required and what is being asked of them as a nation by the Bishops of our nation.
They have given us one question, “What do you think God is asking of us in Australia at this time?” They ask us to, “Listen to what the Spirit is saying”. And also to listen to the stories of each other.
I think we need to be very careful to be faithful to the question.
I say this because at the Spirituality in the Pub meeting I heard one person ask another what they wanted to change. That is not the question being asked.
If we follow this line of thought it will become very negative and using a word of Archbishop Mark Coleridge – will become ‘very messy’.
I think Fr Noel Connolly SSC sees difficulty with not understanding the question.
In the latest ‘Plenary Post no 7 he wrote:
“But in recent weeks I have been giving more thought to the question posed for the Council: “What do you think God is asking of us in Australia at this time?” The question refers to Australia, not to the Church. The Plenary Council is not just for our Church, but for our country.
Even if we were to come up with a transformed Church, if the country does not benefit, we will have “failed”.
We will have failed because we will have failed to be Church . . .”
(Fr Noel Connolly SSC, Plenary Council Facilitation Team)
The Catholic world is watching Australia. The entire Catholic world is watching as the Church in Australia moves towards the Plenary Council 2020, one of America’s leading theologians has told The Catholic Leader in Brisbane.
We hope we can give them something to be excited about in the future church.
Fr Michael Morley
Parish Priest
Sacred Heart Tatura
Words 726
