Fr Helmut Schüller said merging independent parishes into vast, impersonal parish associations is "pretty much the most unimaginative thing one can do".

In the long run, the Church will not be able to avoid issues such as women's ordination and who can take over the leadership of priestless communities, Fr Schüller told Austria's Salzburger Nachrichten.

Fr Schüller founded the Austrian Priests' Initiative for church reform in 2006.

The initiative wants to pave the way for a new model of priesthood rather than merging parishes.

In 2011, Fr Schüller initiated a "Call to Disobedience", which pushed for distribution of Communion to all people of good will, without waiting for Church reforms.

Asked about lay leadership of parishes, Fr Schüller replied: "The Catholic Church is standing at a crossroads on this question."

"Either it succeeds in providing its communities with priests or it must begin to develop new forms of community leadership.

"Latin American communities are reacting to the situation very pragmatically.

"As far as we know, that is exactly how early Christian communities reacted. Community leadership was developed simultaneously in different forms."

But despite the crisis in parish leadership, bishops' conferences agendas have hardly changed, the priest said.

They are keeping to their defensive administrative strategy of merging independent parishes into vast, impersonal parish associations.

"I think many bishops are above all determined not to do anything wrong at the present moment because if this Pope does not come out on top, they could expect little good from those in leading positions in Rome," Fr Schüller said.

In a 2013 speaking tour in the United States, Fr Schüller was banned from speaking in Catholic churches in Detroit and Boston.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• The Plain Dealer
• Image: America

Fr Séamus McEntee, the vocations director for the Archdiocese of Dublin, confirmed the worrying number. "In September, we will have another man coming in… I wish there were more" he said.

McEntee also mentioned ongoing conversations with other men considering the priesthood. However, the discernment process is lengthy and rigorous.

"I have to discern with them for up to two years before I judge them fit to apply even" McEntry explained.

"Then they go forward for panel interview and different assessments and so forth before they go into propaedeutic [preparatory study] year in Valladolid in Spain."

Six dioceses to become three

The news comes amid Ireland's Catholic Church consolidating its six dioceses into three.

It is the largest restructure in nearly 900 years.

As well as a shortage of priests, the consolidation comes amidst a declining number of practising Catholics.

Severe priest shortage

Ireland has only 2,100 priests serving an estimated 3.5 million Catholics and, with many priests nearing retirement combined with the significant lack of new seminarians, the future looks very different from what the country is used to.

In 2022, Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell invited "women and men who feel that they are called to ministry to come forward to train as instituted lectors, acolytes and catechists.

"These are lay ministers, women and men, who are publicly recognised by the Church and appointed by the diocese to minister alongside priests and deacons in leading liturgies, supporting adult faith formation and accompanying families preparing for the sacraments.

"It is my pastoral responsibility as Bishop to do this - for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of the People of God" he said.

Lay funeral ministry

Also tacking the challenge is Bishop of Clogher, Larry Duffy.

With only 44 priests serving 85 churches across 37 parishes, many priests are stretched thin, traveling between multiple locations.

To help minister at such a peak moment, the diocese has introduced a lay funeral ministry.

The first group of 40 lay ministers, already trained, will lead funeral services in 12 parishes.

These services will not include Mass which only priests can celebrate, but will feature scripture readings, eulogies and prayers at the graveside.

Sources

Aleteia

Catholic Vote

Universe Weekly

CathNews New Zealand

It's just a matter of time before they'll be conducting funerals, marriages and baptisms in the Dublin archdiocese and elsewhere, a diocesan spokesman says.

They'll be doing everything but celebrating the Mass and blessing the Sacraments. Priests will continue to be responsible for those rites.

The Catholic Church in Ireland has for some time been exploring ways to involve further lay Catholics in the Church.

Dublin's Catholic Archdiocese currently has nine full-time lay parish pastoral workers working in ministry, 30-plus permanent deacons, mostly married men.

Last June, Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell invited "women and men who feel that they are called to ministry to come forward to train as instituted lectors, acolytes and catechists.

"These are lay ministers, women and men, who are publicly recognised by the Church and appointed by the diocese to minister alongside priests and deacons in leading liturgies, supporting adult faith formation and accompanying families preparing for the sacraments.

"It is my pastoral responsibility as Bishop to do this - for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of the People of God," he said.

Farrell has been expressing this view since his instalment as Archbishop in 2021.

His mission was to "downsize" - in consultation with the Catholics of Dublin, lay and clerical.

It would be about "talking to the people, it's talking to the priests, listening. These are their churches, their faith communities".

Also on his day of installation, Farrell noted the archdiocese included 197 parishes served by 350 active priests with an average age of 70.

"So more and more lay people are going to have to take responsibility in terms of the leadership that's provided at parish level," he said.

"We won't be able to celebrate Sunday Mass in every church in every parish in this diocese.

"I think the Lord is probably saying to us at this time: ‘I don't want you to keep doing the things that you were doing 100 years ago, 200 years ago'."

He then set up the 'Building Hope' taskforce to assess the needs of the people of the archdiocese.

The taskforce found Christian belief in Ireland had "for all intents and purposes vanished".

This "underlying crisis of faith" was "particularly acute among the younger generations," Farrell said.

"The challenges facing me are pretty clear. We have an ageing clergy and very few vocations ... and a major decline in the number of people who actively practice and live their faith."

Dublin especially needs "an effective programme of catechetics ... to eventually replace the current teaching of faith to the young," he said.

In 2018, the Irish archbishops invited Cardinal John Dew to speak about the Wellington Archdiocese's experience with its own Launch Out programme, which was established to form lay pastoral leaders.

Dew's topic was "Lessons from New Zealand, Launch Out: Lay Pastoral Leadership Roles".

Source

• Irish Times
• CathNews

So far little has officially emerged from the meetings.

According to the accounts of those interviewed however, the pope encouraged all participants to speak from the heart.

One topic on the agenda was the newly-released Apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium, which Francis said reorganised the Vatican's central bureaucracy.

He explained to the cardinals the constitution followed discussions with the various Vatican offices.

Other topics for discussion at the closed-door meetings reportedly included allowing "any member of the faithful" to head important Vatican offices, envisioning greater decision-making roles for them, including women.

Until the constitution changed, major Vatican offices had to be headed by a "cardinal prefect or the presiding archbishop".

Participants noted that a substantial amount of time was dedicated to this change, including discussion about specifically which Vatican offices might be led by a layperson.

They said writings and comments from Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda and Cardinal Marc Ouellet provided the basis for many follow-up discussions on the role of the laity during the meeting.

Ghirlanda has said in the past that the "power of governance in the Church does not come from the Sacrament of [Holy] Orders," meaning ordination, but instead, from "canonical mission".

Ouellet has said the pope "can also delegate and thus make members of God's people participants in his power of jurisdiction".

Questions were reportedly raised about the constitution's requirement that the heads of each Vatican dicastery must serve five-year terms, renewable only once.

Some questioned whether an individual would be able to adequately grasp the inner workings of their Vatican office and execute their mandate in such a limited period.

Others reportedly noted this was necessary to help keep in check any clerical or careerist mentalities.

Some also advocated for limits to encourage global dioceses not to be hesitant in sending priests to serve at the Vatican out of a fear that they would never return home.

During the second day of meetings, a brief discussion held on the ongoing process for the 2021-23 Synod of Bishops has been reported and Francis's emphasis on church governance through synodality.

Widespread acclaim was also reported regarding efforts to clean up the Vatican's finances.

Last month, the Vatican made its financial statements public. New guidelines for all financial investments have also been published recently.

Source

• AP News
• NCR

Their "mission is to serve, not to wield power or exert control over others."

Francis made the comments in a meeting last Thursday with moderators of Catholic lay associations, ecclesial movements and new communities. Many of these movements began in the wake of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

"The exercise of governance within associations and movements is a theme that is particularly close to my heart," he said.

"Especially considering ... the cases of abuse of various kinds that have occurred in these realities and that always find their root in the abuse of power."

"The positions of governance entrusted to you in the lay groups to which you belong are none other than a call to serve," Francis said forcefully.

There are two obstacles to the call to use leadership as a way to serve others, he continued.

"The desire for power and unfaithfulness to one's vocation as a Christian, that is, leading a double life that is no longer dedicated to God, but to other things, which always include money."

Francis went on to explain to the leaders - who were present in person and online - that there can also be unfaithfulness to the charism - which is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

He said this was disloyalty or "playing a double game".

"We say in words that we want to serve God and others, but in fact we serve our ego, and we bend to our desire to appear, to obtain recognition and appreciation."

Signs of this disloyalty appear when community leaders present themselves as the "only interpreters of the charism" or "the only heirs" so they do everything to stay in power "for life" or decide for themselves who their successors are.

No one is master of the gifts received for the good of the Church - we are administrators - no one should suffocate them," he warned.

"Instead, each one, where he or she is placed by the Lord, is called to make them ... bear fruit ..." he continued.

The Vatican has often had to intervene over the years in cases of "sickness," when the founding charism has "weakened" and fails to attract new members.

Francis then discussed the Holy See's recently released set of norms for international Catholic lay movements and associations that came into effect this month.

They were devised because of a consistent pattern of recurring concerns over the past several decades showed there was a need to make some changes

The new norms impose term limits on central leadership and mandate that all members have a voice in choosing their leaders as part of an effort to protect people from possible abuse by the groups' leaders, Francis explained.

They are meant "for everyone, no exception. There are not those who are better or less great, perfect or not. Every church entity is called to conversion, to understand and put into action the spirit that animates the regulations given in the decree," he said.

Source

• NCR Online
• Crux Now
• La Croix
• Image: YouTube

But it likely would not have come about so soon without COVID-19 as a detonator.

"The pandemic has precipitated a situation that I expected to see in 20 or 30 years: empty churches, to which many of the faithful do not return, and a Catholicism that often no longer 'tells' people anything," explains Bishop Charles Morerod, leader of this mostly Francophone diocese of just over 700,000 members.

"I don't want my successor to be able to reproach me because I was content to just fill in the gaps even though I saw what was happening. That would not be responsible," says Morerod, a 59-year-old Dominican theologian who was rector of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (the "Angelicum") in Rome before being made bishop of LGF in 2011.

Known for taking decisive action to deal with the Church's sex abuse crisis, he did not have an avant-garde reputation when it came to other things.

But Bishop Morerod surprised many people last May when he unveiled a reorganization of the diocese that he continues to describe as a "leap of faith".

In short, he has lightened diocesan structures to better suit the reality of religious practice in French-speaking Switzerland and has given unprecedented governing responsibilities to certain members of the Catholic laity.

And they do not seem to be in any hurry to take a summer vacation.

"There are a lot of things to start if we want to get things off the ground in the autumn," explains Michel Ralcoz, who is taking time out for a lunch on a terrace in Lausanne between two rain showers.

An experienced layman in Vaud

Ralcoz, who is in his fifties and is married with three children, has been working for the LGF diocese (one of six in Switzerland) for 26 years.

At the beginning of September, he will begin a five-year appointment as the bishop's official representative in the canton of Vaud.

This is an exceptional appointment since this position has always been held by a priest with the title "episcopal vicar."

Christophe Godel, the priest who is currently finishing up in the post, does not seem at all unhappy that he'll now be pastor of a thousand meters-high mountain parish overlooking the waters of Lake Neuchâtel.

Racloz, who takes over from Godel as one of Bishop Morerod's closest collaborators, says the move is "audacious, even prophetic".

The layman's appointment, which Rome has approved, was announced at the end of May.

Racloz says he's well aware that his new job entails risks.

He knows he'll need to be careful not to become a "clericalized layperson" by giving into authoritarianism. And he'll have to build a relationship with the priests for whom he will be the hierarchical superior without sharing their state of life; some already expect him to be "like a father" to them.

Racloz served nine years as a delegate of the episcopal vicar, during which he learned to master technical issues as well as to handle conflicts.

"I always prefer dialogue, but I am able to say things — to laypeople as well as to priests," he says.

Two women in Fribourg

While the canton of Geneva will retain a priest as its episcopal vicar for the time being, a permanent deacon, Romuald Babey, is to become "representative of the bishop" this autumn in the canton of Neuchâtel.

As for the bilingual canton of Fribourg, two married women will be Bishop Morerod's official representatives.

Céline Ruffieux, 48, (pictured) will work with French-speaking Catholics in the area and Marianne Pohl-Henzen, 61, will deal with the German-speakers, something she's already been doing the past years as an "episcopal delegate".

Neither woman advocates for the ordination of women or sees any "opposition between priests and laity".

Instead, they try to promote complementarity between the different states of life and favor ecclesial structures that are more in tune with society and representative of the "people of God".

Ruffieux says that after her appointment was announced one of the priests in Fribourg promised he would work with her.

But he also confessed that he "did not approve" of the bishop's decision to put a woman in the post, saying he believed the diocesan hierarchy should be reserved for ordained ministers.

Ruffieux, who is a psychologist and teacher by profession, says she trying to be understanding.

"There are fears, of course, because we are faced with a void. We don't really have a model to follow; it's up to us to build this new reality," she insists.

A culture of participation

How did this "new reality" for the Catholic Church originate in Switzerland, which is usually seen as more discreet and less outspoken than the Church in neighboring Germany and France.

Did the Germans, who have embarked on a synodal path that has led to demands for progressive ecclesial changes, influence the Swiss?

Bishop Morerod denies this, saying the German model "sometimes leaves him a little perplexed".

Rather, observers see the recent developments in the LGF diocese as part of a culture of participation that is deeply rooted in Switzerland and in Protestantism, which is omnipresent in this part of John Calvin's adopted country.

Over the past 15 years, lay people in the Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg have already been part of teams responsible for pastoral units (parish clusters).

They are also responsible for the federations in charge of interfacing between the Church and the State, which contributes — differently, depending on the canton — to the financing of pastoral work and worship.

Bishop Morerod says he would like to see all the baptized participate more fully in the life of the Church.

In particular, he supports the Network of Women in the Church, which has been active in Switzerland since 2019.

But he does not hide the fact that his recent decisions have also been motivated by more pragmatic considerations.

For example, he now sees his most competent priests "doing a job as priests"; that is, "developing pastoral units rather than being assigned to organizational tasks".

The implication, of course, is that this is not the case when priests serve as episcopal vicars.

An "experiment" for export?

These "pastoral units" are precisely one of the elements of the reorganization underway.

Faced with the decline in religious practice, the local Church intends to give up covering the entire territory in favor of islands that have become "unavoidable", according to Bishop Morerod.

At the end of 2020, he publicly declared that his diocese no longer needed so many foreign priests, a move that angered some.

In any case, Catholics of the diocese will have a chance to better appropriate — and extend — these changes during a synodal process that will begin in the autumn.

Also in the autumn, the diocesan phase of the Synod of Bishops' next assembly on synodality will get underway throughout the universal Church.

The bishop believes this coincidence will likely encourage many Catholics in the LGF dioceses to get involved in this local process.

Will these experiments be "exportable" elsewhere?

Everyone recognizes that such changes, especially the hiring of more lay people, require financial resources.

And while the Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg is not the richest in Switzerland, it has more resources than the average diocese in many other parts of the world.

• Mélinée Le Priol Switzerland
• First published by La Croix International. Republished with permission

But this year's Petertide has been marred by what many have interpreted as an attack on the future of the Anglican priesthood itself.

As Britain's national church prepared to gather for its General Synod, which begins Friday (July 9), one of its most senior clerics submitted a paper for discussion arguing that the future lies not with clergy in the pulpit, but with worshipping communities led by laypeople.

Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell — second-only in the hierarchy to the archbishop of Canterbury — first floated his ideas last year in a report from a "Vision and Strategy" (pdf) committee that Cottrell heads. But its publication last month, just before the laity, bishops and other clergy attended the Synod sessions online, has caused an outcry.

Cottrell's latest reflections include not only a proposal for 10,000 lay-led communities within the next decade but a focus on young people: It urges a doubling of the number of children attending church and what he calls "active young disciples" by 2030.

The Church of England, he maintains, has to become a "church of missionary disciples," to "become younger and more diverse," and to become a church "where a mixed ecology is the norm" — referring to a mix of digital and lay-led services.

Cottrell's plan does not include dismantling the ancient parish system, but his criticism of it — calling it ineffective "in the networks of contemporary life" — has caused fear that this will signal a major change in the way the church is structured, leading to church closures and cuts to clergy numbers.

It also points to the growing influence of American-style evangelism in historically more staid Anglicanism.

The parish system is part of the warp and weft of England, especially in rural life.

England's more than 16,000 Anglican churches still dominate the country's landscape, and the vicar and his role in village life pepper English culture and art, from the works of Jane Austen to the crime novels of Agatha Christie.

But attendance at those churches has been in decline for many years.

Despite being the established church to which every citizen theoretically belongs, only an estimated 750,000 people out of an English population of 56 million attend regularly.

An internal church report, Perspectives on People, Money and Buildings, published earlier this year, showed that church attendance has declined 40% in 30 years and warned that stipendiary clergy positions — filled by priests and deacons supported by the church — would have to be pruned.

In Chelmsford — Cottrell's diocese before moving to York — 61 stipendiary posts are being cut by the end of this year.

The biggest financial issue for the Church of England, however, maybe its buildings.

Three-quarters of its churches are officially listed as historic and demand costly maintenance.

Some of those costs are covered by tourism and charitable grants, but the greatest burden falls on the church and each parish's membership.

If lay-led communities meeting in people's houses are the future, many fear that more of these treasures will be closed.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which led to churches being locked, collections not taken and services moved online, caused an 8.1% fall in the church's income as of November 2020.

But one of the most vocal Anglican priests, the Rev Marcus Walker, vicar of London's oldest parish church, the 900-year-old St. Bartholomew the Great, has warned that the bishop's plan envisages the death of the parish and argues that "this must be fought."

In Walker's view, the parish system has survived hundreds of years precisely because it works so well.

"The parish system works because the parish is local. It responds to local needs," he says.

What has particularly alarmed Walker and his fellow priests is that publication of Cottrell's paper coincided with another given at a conference on church planting supported by Cottrell and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, which goes much further in its critique of parishes.

Critics believe this second paper lifts the lid on the thinking of an increasingly influential evangelical strand of Anglicanism.

Canon John McGinley, a priest in the Diocese of Leicester and a leader in New Wine, a church planting and renewal organization that is part of an evangelical surge in the Church of England, argued at a recent conference that lay-led communities release the church "from key limiting factors," such as buildings and clergy pay and training.

He envisages a new Anglican lay structure based on groups of 20-30 people meeting in people's homes.

Archbishop Welby told the same audience at Multiply X 2021 that church planting would be a new discipline for Anglicans.

"We are not meant to leave Jesus inside the church when we go out, and pick him up again when we come back in the following Sunday but to go with him," said Welby.

Anglicanism has always performed a balancing act between a sacramental approach that puts the Eucharist at the centre of the life of a worshipping community, requiring a priest to celebrate the sacrament — and an evangelical idea of the church focused more on Scripture and lay leadership.

The Rev Andrew Lightbown, rector of Winslow, Buckinghamshire, said: "Within the reformed Catholic tradition of the Church of England we are a sacramental church. And it is also incredibly important that at the end of every service people are blessed and sent out to do God's work. You don't do that with a lay-led church. This plan could be rolling back hundreds of years of theology and changing the Church of England."

Lightbown also pointed out that a lay-led group of 20 would not have the same inclusiveness and sense of service to the whole community.

"The parish church is not limited to the worshipping community. It is there for everyone. Will these new lay-led groups carry out baptisms, weddings and funerals?"

The Rev Barnaby Perkins, of St. Peter and Paul in West Clandon, southwest of London, offers another difficult question in Cottrell's proposal: Will lay people be diligent keepers of the faith? "There has been a change in the way the hierarchy views the clergy, but there is a need for them to teach the faith and order the life of the church," he said.

Source

• Catherine Pepinster is an author at Religion News Service
• First published in RNS. Republished with permission.

"They are the Church - co-responsible with bishops, priests, and religious for Christ's mission on earth" writes Martin Work in "Laity" an introductory observation prefacing Apostolicam Actuositatem. (The decree on the laity).

We are the People of God the decree states.

Because of the first sacrament of initiation, all of us stand on the same Baptismal platform, different but equal in the same priesthood of Jesus.

When introduced to the world on the Vatican balcony in 2013, Pope Francis couldn't have demonstrated this point better, he asked the people to bless him.

Other Popes have blessed the people!

During the debate that eventually formed the document called Apostolicam Actuositatem, a layperson noted that we laypeople have existed since Jesus lived in Jerusalem.

"Been on the back burner" he said, "until this decree on the laity when it was shoved onto the front burner and came to the point of boiling".

That was back in 1964!

Those laypeople, like us today, lived ordinary lives, yet were called to move into ministries to build the infant church.

Paul, (Acts 18:3) was a tradesman and Lydia, (Acts 16:14) an astute businesswoman.

Both were called to evangelization.

Peter, (John 1:44) involved in the fishing industry was called to lead.

The nameless Samaritan woman (John 4:29) who had no problems cross-examining Jesus, went on to evangelize.

Baptism into the Christian Mystery of Redemption is not for oneself, nor one culture. It's for all.

Our mission is to recognise those around us who may be searching for Jesus died, Jesus risen and Jesus with us.

We are, by the obligation of Baptism, missionary disciples.

The Vatican Council is pointing us towards, and God's Holy Spirit is calling us, to reshape the church.

Could the circumstances we face today, with more parishes than priests, be the situation that could truly realize the original intention of the Council those 6 decades earlier?

The ordained and non-ordained working beside each other in a joint relationship of co-responsibility in a shared leadership model, bringing to reality the place of the laity?

Pope Benedict told the International Forum of Catholic action in August 2012:

"Co-responsibility demands a change in mindset especially concerning the role of lay people in the church. They should not be regarded as ‘collaborators' of the clergy, but, rather, as people who are really co-responsible for the church's being and acting.

"It is therefore important that a mature and committed laity be consolidated, which can make its own specific contribution to the ecclesial mission with respect for the ministries and tasks that each one has in the life of the church and always in cordial communion with the bishops".

Over recent years the non-ordained have assumed greater responsibilities in education, administration and sacramental programmes.

In my view, it is the area of lay leadership that needs to break new ground with a genuine commitment from the ordained and non-ordained to

• leadership,
• engaging ecumenically,
• advocating for those considered to be of little account,
• ensuring that language is inclusive,
• assimilation of immigrant spiritualities,
• guaranteeing personal safety,
• supporting those involved in social justice issues, and
• accompanying anyone seeking full integration into parish life, all of which calls for the mature use of our spiritual gifts.

There is a sense of urgency to step up the dialogue, to begin to visualize, deliberate and strategize.

This is everyone's business.

We just can't wait to see what happens.

We need to begin now to identify our leaders, to form them to preside over liturgies, to baptise, to lead funeral services and facilitate marriages.

We need to look around now to recognise those amongst us, who have the gift of leadership.

Maybe it is the parent whose youngster gets grizzly, the parishioner who is obviously moved by the Sunday readings, or the one who sits in the same back row Sunday after Sunday!

• Sue Seconi is a parishioner in the Palmerston North Diocese.

Greer, whose family has a five-generation association with the diocese, grew up in Palmerston North, attending St Peter's College.

He has a degree in valuation and property management and worked as a property valuer for a few years. Read more in NZ Catholic.

He has been invited by the Irish archbishops to speak about the Wellington Archdiocese's experience with its own Launch Out programme, established to form lay pastoral leaders.

His topic will be Lessons from New Zealand, Launch Out: Lay Pastoral Leadership Roles.

Fr Éamonn Fitzgibbon, director of the Irish Institute for Pastoral Studies, says the time has come for Ireland to look to experience elsewhere and receive the wisdom garnered by others.

Other countries have faced and addressed the challenges now confronting the Catholic Church in Ireland, Fitzgibbon says.

"We need to be open, generous and humble enough to allow that learning to inform us, as we try to ensure parishes can be all that they are called to be."

Other speakers and facilitators at the conference on the future of parishes include Martin Kennedy, Dr Margaret Lavin, Fr Matthew Nunes, Dr Jessie Rogers and Bishop Michael Wüstenberg.

Cardinal John will leave next week for Ireland.

Before going to the conference he will attend the World Meeting of Families 2018 from 21-26 August.

Of his visit, Cardinal John commented, "It is a very significant event for the Church in Ireland which has been dealing with many difficulties in the last few years."

The three-yearly international event brings together families from around the world to celebrate, pray and reflect upon the central importance of marriage and the family.

There will be a simultaneous opening of the meeting across the dioceses of Ireland, followed by the three-day congress reflecting on the meeting's theme of ‘the Gospel of the family: Joy for the world,' one chosen by the Pope himself.

The congress will feature keynote speakers, workshops, talks, cultural events and musical performances.

It will conclude with a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in Phoenix Park, Dublin, where it is expected hundreds of thousands will gather.

Source

• Supplied: Amanda Gregan New Zealand Catholic Bishop's Conference
• irishinstituteforpastoralstudies.com
• www.wn.catholic.org.nz
• irishexaminer.com
• Image: wn.catholic.org.nz

The graduate certificate programme is aimed at developing leadership capabilities for people who work, or wish to work, in Catholic organisations.

The paper being presented by TCI examines the development and application of core concepts in Catholic social thought.

Participants will explore the key concepts of social justice and examine the application of these concepts in relation to their leadership roles in Catholic organisation.

The course will be made up of four five-day programmes, taking place in January and July in 2018 and 2019 at the Mercy Centre in Thorndon, Wellington.

The Australian Catholic University is the degree-granting body for GCLCC.

The TCI was established by the Catholic Bishops of New Zealand to support their vision of an informed laity who are supported by qualified people working in ministries and for the mission in the world.

It has been commissioned to provide accessible courses for teachers and trainee teachers to ensure they are qualified to teach religious education in Catholic schools and are able to engage in ongoing Professional Development.

Members of the Catholic Institute of Aotearoa New Zealand Council are appointed by the New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference. The Council is responsible to the Bishops' of New Zealand.

Appointments are guided by the trust deed that formed the TCI and are for a three year period.

An effort is made to balance appointments from all dioceses, as well as race and gender, having regard to the particular spread of expertise the Council is seeking to help govern the Institute.

TCI has campuses in Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

IT also provides 40 course by distance learning for those who are unable to attend classes because they live too far away or have other commitments, or simply wish to study at home.

Source

• CTI
• Image: 4.bp.blogspot.com

They became co-ordinators for the Pacific in 1995. And then came the call to lead the global programme.

Between 2005 and 2010 they travelled the world encouraging individual countries to promote and develop Marriage Encounter.

And during that time they were also part of team that facilitated the annual meeting of the representatives from 92 countries, from all of the continents, of the world where Worldwide Marriage Encounter.

In 2010 they met Pope Benedict. they say they were overwhelmed by the occasion. They did not know until the last minute that we were going to actually meet the Holy Father.

"We were humbled by his presence and moved by his words to us. He affirmed the work that Marriage Encounter was doing for the church."

Earlier this month David and Bronwyn featured in a article in the Manawatu Standard. They told the Standard that they met at St Anthony's Primary School in Pahiatua when David was six and an Bronwyn was five and they've been inseparable ever since.

Bronwyn is the chief executive of Tararua College. David was a Tararua district councillor for 33 years and deputy mayor for 12 years.

He owned Pahiatua Reality, before joining Property Brokers, and continues as a real estate trainer for them.

He's been a JP for 24 years, a marriage celebrant for 20. He's a trustee for Eastern and Central Community Trust, a board member of the Regent on Broadway Trust.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter offers a weekend experience designed to give married couples the opportunity to learn a technique of loving communication that they can use for the rest of their lives.

The weekend provides a conducive environment for couples to spend time together, away from the distractions and tensions of everyday life, while encouraging them to focus on each other and their relationship.

It's not a retreat, marriage clinic, group therapy, or a substitute for counselling. It's a unique approach aimed at revitalising Marriage.

Source

• marriageencounter.org.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• welcom
• Image: resources.stuff.co.nz