The Catholic Weekly 1 August 2021

catholicweekly.com.au 4 1, August, 2021 NOW IS not a time for set- tling for the status quo in Church life – it’s a time for priests and parishioners to partner in a new evangeli- sation, the Diocese of Wag- ga Wagga priests were told as they gathered on 20 July. Daniel Ang, Director of the Archdiocese of Sydney’s Centre for Evangelisation, led the Wagga diocesan cler- gy conference at the invita- tion of Bishop Mark Edwards OMI. Approximately 38 cler- gy from around the vast Riv- erina diocese – one of Aus- tralia’s largest – attended the gathering. Mr Ang, the lead author of the Archdiocese’s Go Make Disciples plan for evangeli- sation, unpacked principles from the document that has been adopted by Sydney as its blueprint for the new evangelisation, the clarion call of popes and Church leaders in recent decades. Throughout the day, he discussed the potential for parish renewal in this era of mission, the increasing- ly secular Australian land- scape, and the strategies that might bridge these two realities to bear the fruit of lifelong discipleship. There was plenty of time for taking questions from priests and for opening up discussion about what this ‘conversion for mission’ does and can look like. The latest Covid-19 re- strictions and lockdown in Sydney saw Mr Ang forced to deliver his message via Zoom. Still, said Wagga seminary Vice Rector Fr Sean Byrnes, the message got through. “Despite the difficulty of the Covid-19 lockdown, Daniel was able to provide an engaging conference which challenged the priests and seminarians of the Wag- ga Wagga Diocese to think Parishes need to think differently and consider new ways they can offer Jesus to our society ¾ Peter Rosengren Form new partnerships, be bold for evangelisation Possibilities for evangelisation:Wagga priests gather for their clergy conference on 20 July. PHOTO: BISHOP MARK EDWARDS OMI about what changes in parish ministry might be necessary in order to effectively evan- gelise both the parish and the broader community,” he said. “Something he said which deeply resonated with a number of the cler- gy was that both priests and lay faithful are not called to merely maintain the sta- tus quo in parishes which is normally represented by an aging congregation and low attendance numbers. Rather we are called to be bold and invitational, reaching out to the unchurched to facilitate an encounter with Christ.” Fr Byrnes said he agreed with Mr Ang that the ‘pro- to-evangelising’ moment for the unchurched is most often not the sacraments but the invitation to attend the home of a Christian, a church event, like a parish meal or men’s or women’s breakfasts and gatherings. With encour- agement, Mr Ang noted that 59% of people surveyed said that they would or probably would go to church if invit- ed by a close friend or family member, the principle rea- son being, “I would attend because it is important to the person who invited me, oth- erwise they wouldn’t have invited me” (McCrindle Re- search 2019). “These invitations and introductory events enable people to encounter Christ through human relation- ships and engages them in a manner which acknowledg- es and respects their present journey, but also provides the opportunity for growth towards a relationship with Jesus and his Church,” Fr Byrnes said. Bishop Edwards wel- comed Mr Ang’s contribu- tion. “Daniel explained that Catholic parishes are to bear as fruit a growth in the dis- cipleship of our people,” he said. “This requires that the very concept of discipleship be explained and that the direc- tion of this growth is demon- strated and explained.” Speaking from Sydney, Mr Ang told clergy that the overall challenges and situ- ation the church faces in its mission of evangelisation are very different to those of the past. “For pre-moderns, the What the Christian tradition tells us time and time again ... is that we become more ourselves by choos- ing others and this choice makes us more deeply who we are ...” Daniel Ang - Sydney Centre for Evangelisation 4 world and the self were con- sidered porous and open to the transcendent. Life was vulnerable to the incursions of the sacred, and these forc- es were to be navigated by various rites and means,” he said. “However, today we ex- perience the challenge of following Jesus and sharing His life in a post-Christian culture. This culture is not a ‘religious year zero’ nor do I think we live in a pre-Chris- tian era. “In the West, we are still shaped by fundamental Christian ideas in our sense of law, justice, mercy and our preference for the poor. However, now we want this ‘Kingdom’ without the King. Like the crowds in France who watched teary eyed as Notre Dame Cathedral burned, we remain resistant to religion but are still haunt- ed by our Christian origins.” However, he said, the Church still serves the pres- ence of God in a disenchant- ed world by offering the encounter with the person of Jesus in word, sacrament and outreach – “Jesus who is at the heart of Christian life, the source of our cultural re- newal as a Church, and the deepest presence without which human progress loses its way. The challenge for parishes is to recognise that it is not a ‘zero sum game’ between the call to discipleship and evangelisation, as if it were a choice between the flock they have and those to whom they are sent,” he said. “What the Christian tra- dition tells us time and time again – from the parable of the Prodigal Son to the rad- ical self-surrender of Jesus to the Father’s love – is that we become more ourselves by choosing others and this choice makes us more deep- ly who we are, rather than di- luting our identity.” Go to: https://www.gomakedisciples.org.au/cas-events UPCOMING EVENTS