A month on from the second Archdiocesan Assembly held in Canberra-Goulburn, attention has turned to what comes next. Source: Catholic Voice.
Parish animator Chloe Kelly says the second Archdiocesan Assembly, held on August 22, showed important shifts, including stronger parish participation, particularly from regional communities, and deeper engagement with the synodal process.
“There was a different feel to 2024,” she says. “There was a sense that we were getting better at synodal conversation and the practice of Conversation in the Spirit.”
Attention now turns to putting that discernment into practice.
Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocese’s chancellor Patrick McArdle said the Assembly gave a clear message on formation, liturgical practice and becoming more invitational communities.
“The message was pretty clear. We want greater formation and greater investment of our time and energy into liturgical practice,” Dr McArdle said.
Formation is already taking shape, with online and multimode opportunities planned to make it accessible across the archdiocese.
What greater investment in liturgical practice looks like, however, will differ between parishes.
“I still have a sense that what parishes mean by that is different in each parish. It depends on the context,” Dr McArdle said.
“That’s going to require some ongoing discernment at the parish level and the archdiocesan level.”
That conversation also needs to work both ways, with parishes more clearly articulating what the assembly priorities mean in their own communities.
“Parishes are going to need to say more unambiguously, ‘This is what we think it means,’” Dr McArdle says.
Another focus next year will be moving beyond welcoming those who arrive to actively inviting others into the Church.
“Becoming an invitational Church is going to mean going out and seeking to bring people in,” Dr McArdle says.
This will include encouraging Catholics to identify people they might personally invite into their communities.
For Ms Kelly, progress will depend on individuals taking ownership of what emerged from the assembly.
“If every individual person owns it and says, ‘This is what I can uniquely contribute, these are where my gifts are,’ then we will see a culture shift,” she said.
“If all of us sit back and go, ‘That’s someone else’s responsibility,’ or ‘I’m going to wait to be told what to do,’ we will see slow progress.”
FULL STORY
Second Assembly calls the Archdiocese to action (By Jeanine Doyle, Catholic Voice)
