Go Make Disciples Wrap 12 Dec 2021

It’s been a Year of Grace It’s been 12 months since the Archdiocese has launched its plans for missionary renewal. Looking back over the past year, it’s clear that it is the faith of Sydney Catholics that is the soil fromwhich renewal will emerge as parishes, chaplaincies andmovements rediscover their gifts and call. AS WE look back on an extraordinary year in our lives and the life of our Church, we give thanks for the thousands of Sydney Catholics who have been a part of the opening year of Go Make Disciples and the opportunities for for- mation and community it has enabled together with our priests, communities, keynote speakers both local and afar, apostolic groups and movements. The diversity and scale of the Archdiocese continues to bring forth new possi- bilities for mission, even in these most challenging of times, as the work of im- plementation begins. It is true that this second year of pandemic and re- lated restrictions have had a significant and continu- ing impact on our parish- es and ecclesial communi- ties, on our ability to gather in worship and to share pastoral life. However, the past year has also thrown light on the capacity of our communities to adapt and change in order to remain faithful to the mission giv- en by Christ, to ‘go, make disciples’ in every age and every season. If Pope Francis was once concerned that par- ishes can become stuck in “unacceptable stagna- tion and in worryingly re- petitive pastoral cycles”, the global pandemic has put an end even to that prospect. Mere “mainte- nance” is no longer pos- sible in our cultural and historical circumstance, whether one considers the global pandemic or the increasing implica- tions of secularisation. The Church and its lo- cal communities must embrace the mission of evangelisation and deep- ening discipleship or face the real prospect of ac- celerated decline. OUR RESPONSE IN SYDNEY The vision of Go Make Disciples for Sydney is marked by a Christian hope that engages these challenging realities but sees in this changing land- scape genuine opportuni- ties for the perennial light nniversary - Launching the new evangelisation in Sydney of the Gospel and the pastoral creativity of our communities to express themselves anew. Hope recognises the present moment is not, in truth, the whole and more is always possible than our experi- ence of the present. It lives by the conviction that the gifts of each season are only discovered by enter- ing into its challenge. CONTINUE PAGE 3 Daniel Ang