Society of Saints
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Links
  • Resources - Prayer
  • Resources - Prayer 2
  • Resources - Study Group
  • Resources - FBC Group
  • Resources - Listening to God
  • Resources - Other
  • Could God be real?
  • Could Catholicism be true?
  • Publications
  • About Us
  • Contact us

Proclaim 2014 : Panel Response 23 August

11/12/2014

0 Comments

 
Saturday Panel Response

The moderator for the Panel Response was Jude Hennessy from 'The Journey' radio show and the Diocese of Wollongong.

http://www.dow.org.au/news/catholic-radio

http://pulse941.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=94:historic-partnership-church-christian-radio&catid=8&Itemid=174

http://mediablog.catholic.org.au/?p=3003

The panel's task was to help us reflect upon the Conference input and to propose ideas for how we might respond as a group. Each panellist has been asked to share their personal reflections, to engage with some of the feedback from conference attendees, and to talk about how they plan to act on the conference input in their own lives.

Jude Hennessy kicked things off by sharing what he learned from reading 'Tools for Rebuilding':

'Don't just do something, stand there. Pause and reflect. Start somewhere, take aim at some target, and do something, in a smaller way, and then figure out what that taught you about what you want to do in a bigger way. Ask the right questions.'

PANEL:

Sr Kate Atkins - Missionary of God's Love Sisters, a new group of consecrated women. She joined them in 1996.

Fr Richard Healey - Assistant Priest, St Paul's Camden. It is a large parish, and this is his third appointment. Otherwise he is known as a geek, a go-to IT guy and the vocations director for the Diocese of Wollongong.

http://www.dow.org.au/parishes/clergy/item/fr-richard-healey

http://frrick.org/

https://twitter.com/richardmhealey

Tony Farley - Parish Council Member, Lower North Shore. Has been part of the parish council for 5-6 years. Around 40 parishioners have read 'Rebuilt'. Trying to live by 'go hard, fail early, go ahead'.

Sinead Kent - Family Faith Educator, St Vincent's Ashfield. Mother of four and an expat from Ireland.

Daniel Ang - Pastoral Planner, Diocese of Parramatta

http://timeofthechurch.com/about/

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/daniel-ang/67/984/249

https://twitter.com/danielangrc

Question : What have you heard that has energised or moved you?

Sinead : Realising how much we don't know what our audience is, even though that is a known problem. At school I work with many people on the fringe of church life, as a liaison for them to help translate 'school speak' and 'church speak' for them and vice versa. This initiative begun in 2010 is proving successful enough for it to get rolled out to other schools. The challenge is to find out what the parents and carers are looking for. It is good to ask those questions, 'What are we doing?' and 'Why are we doing it?' For me focussing on the family, the domestic church, is the way forward, and then to gently invite them in.

Tony : The key things for me were perseverance, the need to challenge ourselves, and to support each other in doing something different. The other thing was to not be afraid of having the difficult conversations we have to have, if we are to move forward.

Sr Kate : I appreciated the focus back onto Jesus and onto the simple things, the basics. The 7 asks (pray, join a small group, serve on the inside, serve on the outside, give, invest in relationships, invite them to church) were good. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to move us. Often we wait for someone better to show up and tackle a task we see needs doing – they won't – so give it a go yourself.

Daniel : I have been inspired by the authors of Rebuilt to have honest discussions about the state of our parishes. On a bad day you can see for ever. We need to explore how to live discipleship more communally. We need to work out how to reach the individual unchurched, especially those around us at the dinner table. To do fewer things, but to do them better. We also need to work on making sure that our people are in the right ministries.

Fr Richard : I loved the synthesis of deep encouragement and absolute practicality. I appreciated how the authors had their feet on the ground reality and yet are so centred in Christ, and willing to share their many mistakes and failures. With some trepidation I gave a copy of Rebuilt to my parish priest, who found in it reinforcement of his own pastoral ideas but as yet no sense of the need to be doing things differently.

Sr Kate : Many thanks to Marita Winters for organising for us to hear the news from other churches.

Question : The conference has rebooted our focus on mission. So how do we start initiating the changes?

Daniel : To awaken the sense of mission, we need our leaders to present the vision to us. Often we think that growth looks linear, when in fact it is more spiral. Every time we go forward a bit, we also have to go back and bring the strays and re-present the vision to them. Do the authors of Rebuilt have a pastoral plan? I think they do, it is just that it is not written down. We also need prayer, and to create time for the things that really matter.

Tony : We need to view all parish activity through the prism of moving to discipleship. At our parish we did a survey to start engaging with the silent majority in the pews, because we need to listen to everyone. Part of the survey asked 'Would you like to be involved in parish ministry?' Of the 550 surveys that came back, 125 of them responded 'Yes, I want to be involved'. While some of those would be seeking greater involvement, many of those 125 would be saying yes to some form of parish ministry for the very first time.

Question : The National Church Life Survey told us that some 67% of us are quite happy to talk our faith with others, but very few of us go the next step and invite them to parish life. Why is this? How can we change it?

Fr Richard : We have to confess that while we all love church speak, it is a language barrier and fosters a sense of exclusion in those outside the church and on the fringes of it. My work in the marriage tribunal has taught me how much frustration proceeds from a legal mentality, despite the need for clarity and boundaries. Viewing the Hillsong website was a revelation to me.

Sr Kate : While I was surprised at the Survey's indication about how many Catholics desire to share their faith, we need to acknowledge that there are stages in evangelisation and that it is often a long process. It takes wisdom to know when it is the right time to ask someone to come to Mass with you. It concerns me that some new parishioners haven't been talked to in their first 3 years in a parish.

Sinead : In order to be able to reach out to a wide range of people you need the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we are too educated. What we need is 100% reliance on the Holy Spirit. We also need to think seriously about those things we can do collaboratively to reach out to others. It is also undeniably important that you take time to learn the culture of the people you are reaching out to. For example if you live in an area with a high Chinese population it makes sense to take the time to learn how to serve a cup of tea to a Chinese person, with the correct ritual and respect. So things like this require long term plans, and time spent in getting to know people and building relationships. Perseverance is key.

Tony : We also need to seriously look at the disconnect between parish life and those employed in Catholic institutions. The Catholic Church in the Sydney region employs some 180,000 people in schools, hospitals, administration etc. That is a large number of skilled people working under the ethos of the Church, and yet so many of them are disconnected with parish life. Bridging the disconnection between school and parish is a good place to start.

Sinead : That is our aim with the family faith educators initiative, to connect with people and then to help them connect and reconnect with school and parish. Teacher language is different to parent language which is different again to church language, and we try to facilitate communication between these language sets by helping them decode and listen to each other.

Question : Who do you need to ask to move, and how do you do that?

Tony : We have had more failures than successes in this regard. It is true that there are great musicians everywhere. One parishioner visited Timor and came back wanting to do something that would really help. That's how the twinning of our parish with a parish in Timor began, which has connected us with a sense of witness and mission. One very helpful thing we did was to go through all the parish ministries and make a directory including job descriptions for each one of those ministries. Prior to us reading rebuilt our parish was planning to redevelop a site of land to provide an income stream for the parish. Lots of people had put a lot of time and effort into these plans. But we decided to pull the plug on the project because its outcome was an income stream and not discipleship. All those who had become invested in the project were very hurt by this decision.

Jude : Prayer is a critical part of the process. Any change will only work with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Daniel : Planning is difficult, because it is people work. Parishes and dioceses only grow when their people do. Sometimes we forget that priests are accountable only to the bishop and not to the people they serve. It is easier to let go if you know you will be caught and supported at the other end – and through the journey of implementing the changes. No one likes change, but it is easier to do if you know you will be held on the other side. If you have poor quality lectors and cantors, then if you find better ministry roles for them and invite them to give it a go, you will have given them an easier pathway to make the transition. It is always easier to ask people to move if you have somewhere for them to go. Giving people a sense of mission provides them with both the power to change and permission to change.

Jude : Dare to dream. Dream what your parish could look like in 5 or 10 years' time, and work towards it.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The next blog-post will be about the diocesan group sessions and the concluding messages the bishops gave us.

Some of the workshops have been made available as podcasts via www.xt3.com

To access them visit http://www.xt3.com/library/view.php?id=17454

Some of the talks and workshops are now available from http://www.proclaimconference.com.au/resources.

Several video clips, transcripts, handouts and slide presentations are downloadable.  

These Notes are only one person's version of what they heard, and they are not a literal transcript.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013

    Categories

    All
    10 Commandments
    1st Rite Of Reconciliation
    24 Hours For The Lord
    2nd Rite Of Reconciliation
    3rd Rite Of Reconciliation
    Abortion
    Active Participation
    Act Of Contrition
    Adoration Of The Blessed Sacrament
    Adultery
    Advent
    Agony Of Jesus In The Garden
    Anniversaries
    Apologetics
    Apostolic Nuncio
    Apparitions Of Our Lady
    Archbishop Porteous
    Archbishop Prowse
    Ark And Dove Week 2019
    Aussie Pilgrims
    Australian Prophetic Summit
    Baptism
    Be Prepared
    Berthe Petit
    Betty Cavanagh
    Book Review
    Broken Bay Diocese
    Building The Kingdom
    Burnout
    Cardinal Pell
    Caroline Chisholm
    Catechumenate
    Catholic Charismatic Renewal
    Catholic Church
    Catholic Newcomers
    Catholics Returning Home
    Catholic Tertiary Education
    Catholic Universities & Colleges
    Cautionary Tale
    CCR
    Central Coast Diocese
    Charisms
    Christian Book Publishing
    Christian Unity
    Church Fees
    Clean Vs Unclean
    Clericalism
    Comensoli Homily
    Commitment
    Communication
    Conference Design
    Conference/Summer School
    Confession
    Confession Of Sins
    Confirmation
    Consecration Prayer
    Consequences Of Rejecting God
    Conversation Answers
    Corruption
    Covenant Communities
    Creative Lectio Divina
    Culture
    Death
    Decision Making
    Decision Time
    Deliverance From Evil
    Denominations
    Desperate Situations
    Devotion
    Diaconate
    Diocesan Plan
    Disabilities
    Discernment
    Divine Mercy Sunday
    Divine Office
    Divine Renovation Conference DR16
    Divine Renovation Conference DR18
    Doctor Of The Church
    Dying
    Dying Process
    Easter
    Eastern Rite Liturgy
    Ecumenical
    Ecumenism
    Ehlers Danlos Syndrome
    Elder Technology
    Employment
    Encounter Jesus
    End Of Life Stories
    Engagement
    Eternal Perspective
    Eucharist
    Eucharistic Adoration
    Evangelii Gaudium
    Evangelisation
    Ewtn
    Exodus 90
    Expectant Faith
    Facilitating Connections
    Faith
    Families In Sorrow
    Family
    Fatima
    Federal Plebiscite
    Feminism
    First Communion
    First Line Welcomers
    First Nations
    First Nations Seminary
    Forgiveness
    Four Last Things
    Fr Bill Meacham
    Free Speech
    Fr George Kosicki
    Fr Hugh Thomas CSsR
    Friendship
    Gerald Coates
    Gift Of Tongues
    G.K.Chesterton
    Glorious Mysteries
    God's Decrees
    God's Love
    God's Modus Operandi
    God's Plan
    God's Reset
    Golden Jubilee
    Gospel Reflection
    Guest Blog
    Happy Meetings
    Hashtags
    Healing
    Helping Young People
    Holiness / Character
    Holy Communion
    Holy Door
    Holy Spirit
    Holy Thursday
    Holy Water
    Holy Wounds
    Homelessness
    Hospitality
    Hour Of Grace
    Human Traditions
    Human Vs Divine Solutions
    Hypocrisy
    ICCRS Charism School
    Ideas
    Immaculate Heart
    Inclusion
    Inclusive Language
    Inculturation
    Indigenous Peoples
    Indulgence
    Integrating Newcomers Into Parish Life
    Intercession
    Intercessory Prayer
    Interpretation
    Interpreting These Times
    Jennifer Eivaz
    Jesus
    Jim Murphy
    Joseph Chircop
    Joyful Mysteries
    Katherine Ruonala
    Kerygma
    Kingdom Wishlist
    Larry Sparks
    Leadership
    Leadership Structure
    Learning From Other Churches
    Lent
    LetUsPray2017
    Life Regrets
    Linda's House Of Hope
    Listening To God
    Litany
    Liturgy
    Liturgy Of The Hours
    Love In Action
    Making Disciples
    Marriage
    Marriage Preparation
    Married Spirituality
    Mary Queen Of Apostles
    Mass
    Mass Homily
    McCarrick Report
    Mental Health
    Mercy
    Message / Homily
    Ministry To Divorced Catholics
    Miracles
    Misery
    Mission
    Missionary Disciples
    Monthly Recollection Day
    Movements Of Grace
    Music
    Napoleon
    National Church Life Survey
    New Evangelisation
    Novena
    Obedience
    Obituary
    Obscure Saints
    Open Letter
    Open To Conversion
    Open To Reform
    Open To Renewal
    Opposition To God's Work
    Ordination
    Our Lady
    Our Lady Help Of Christians
    Our Lady Star Of The Sea
    Palliative Care
    Pandemic
    Parables
    Parents
    Parish Life
    Parish Meetings
    Parish Ministries
    Participant Guide
    Paschal Candle
    Patron Saint For The New Year
    Pentecost
    Personal Log
    Pilgrimage
    Plenary Council
    Plenary Council 2020
    Plenary Council 2021
    Plenary Council 2022
    Plenary Council Agenda
    Plenary Council Motions
    Plenary Council Process
    Plenary Council Proposals
    Plenary Council Theme 6
    Political Leaders
    Pope Benedict XVI
    Pope Francis
    Praise And Worship
    Prayer For A New Bishop
    Prayer Groups
    Prayer Of The Heart
    Prayer Request
    Prayers
    Preaching
    Preparation For Holy Mass
    Pre-Synod Youth 2018
    Priests
    Proclaim 2014
    Proclaim 2014 Conference
    Proclaim 2016
    Proclaim 2016 Conference
    Prophecy
    Prophetic Intercession
    Providence
    RCIA Rite Of Christian Initiation For Adults
    Rebuilt
    Recommended
    Reddit
    Renewal And Reform
    Reparation
    Repentance
    Resources
    Responding To God
    Rest
    Retaining New Catholics
    Revival
    Rosary
    Rosary Meditations
    Sacramental Preparation
    Sacramentals
    Sacrament Of Penance
    Sacraments
    Sacred Heart
    Sacred Scripture
    Sacrifice
    Salvation
    Scientists
    Signs Of Hope
    Silence
    Sin
    Social Distancing
    Social Media
    Social Media Apostolate
    Soft Evangelisation
    Spiritual Communion
    Spiritual Life
    Sr Margaret Wall Rsj
    St Anicetus
    StartupAusCC
    Stations Of The Resurrection
    Statistics
    St Augustine Zhao Rong
    Stewardship
    St Faustina
    St Francis Of Assisi
    St Gregory Of Narek
    St John The Baptist
    St Joseph
    St Raphael
    Strengths
    StrengthsFinder
    Suffering
    Summer Camp
    Summer School
    Surrender
    Survival
    Synod On The Family
    Synod Process
    #TakeTheAdventChallenge
    Teaching
    Teams Of Our Lady
    Teamwork
    Tertiary Study
    Testimonies
    Thanksgiving
    The Body Of Christ
    The Fight Back Plan
    Topics Of Controversy
    Tradition
    Trauma
    Trinity
    True Reverence
    Trusting In God
    Tsunami Of Grace
    Unity
    Unity In Diversity
    Via Lucis
    Virtual Pilgrimage
    Vision Casting
    Vocation
    Waiting On God
    Welcomers
    Welcoming Via Websites
    What Ordinary Holiness Looks Like
    #WhyRemainCatholic
    Wisdom
    WNFIN Challenge
    Women
    World Youth Day
    Worthwhile Charity
    Writing Christian Non Fiction
    Writing Christian Non-Fiction
    WYD Krakow
    Year Of Mercy
    Young Men
    Young Parents
    Youth Group
    Youth Synod 2018

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly