Posts Tagged ‘Mission’

The Australian Plenary Council: Abundance of goodwill or the last throw of the dice?

Monday, July 5th, 2021
Australian Plenary Council

With a few months to the first session of the long-awaited Australian Plenary Council (PC2020), we are finally headed down the home stretch. The initial phase of listening drew nearly 220,000 people across Australia and 17,500 individual and group submissions. These submissions were distilled into the six national theme papers and then further distilled again Read more

Can reinventing parish life save it?

Monday, March 1st, 2021

In a pastoral message released in December, Cardinal Gerald Lacroix of the Archdiocese of Quebec announced a dramatic transformation in how the Catholic Church in the province should understand itself. Faced with declining resources and a faithful but increasingly small cohort of weekly Mass attendees—between 2 and 11 percent of the province, according to The Read more

Can TikTok bring Gen Z into the fold?

Monday, November 23rd, 2020
TikTok

While TikTok may seem like a frivolous app, teenagers and 20-somethings play with on their phones, the platform — which is relatively new to the U.S. market — has already shown the power to make change “IRL.” The video-centric app is credited with popularizing the runaway hit “Stunnin’” by Curtis Waters. In another instance, it Read more

Shaping the Mission conference postponed because of Covid-19

Thursday, March 19th, 2020

The Takirua 2020: Shaping the Mission conference planned for Wellington from 24 to 26 April has been postponed till later this year because of uncertainties caused by the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. The decision to postpone has been made before setting a new date, to provide clarity and certainty for people around the April dates in the face Read more

Build bridges of hope, show empathy in dialogue urges Pope

Monday, November 11th, 2019
bridges of hope

The example of St Paul and his mission to Greece is a reminder to Christians to approach those of other cultures as people who know the love of God not as non-believers worthy of hostility and contempt. He is encouraging Christians to create bridges of hope rather than hostility. The comments were made by Pope Read more

From maintenance to missionary: 20 years on

Thursday, September 26th, 2019

We know what to do for someone who comes to church, but we don’t know how to get someone to come to church. We know how to be Christian when we are poor, under-educated, and culturally marginalized, but we struggle to be Christian when we are affluent, educated, and have a full place in the Read more

Rescue a sinking church; think mission not membership

Monday, September 9th, 2019
mission

In my hometown, there is a lifesaving parish called St. William. Every week, the single Sunday liturgy in the modest church building in an impoverished neighborhood is filled to capacity with a passionate mix of young and old; black, white, and brown; and religious and lay from dozens of zip codes. St. William is a Read more

Why Pope Francis’ focus on mission makes Catholics uncomfortable

Thursday, July 18th, 2019

It is no secret that Pope Francis is getting pushback from certain corners of the church these days. The church in the United States has been infected by the same harshness and polarization that inflame our politics. Our faith is challenged by ongoing polemics between Catholics labeled progressive and conservative. The due reverence afforded the papacy Read more

Not usual missionaries: Papal Vicar in Rome wants risk takers

Monday, July 15th, 2019

A new neighbourhood missionary outreach initiative in Rome is looking for teams of “courageous explorers”, risk takers in other words. “Don’t go looking for those who have shown they are prudent, measured and detail-oriented,” Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, told pastors in the diocese of Rome last week. Ideally, the teams should include “people who draw Read more

It is not just about buildings – it is about mission

Monday, April 15th, 2019
mission

The Archbishop of Wellington cardinal John Dew wants to go further than just combining parishes and reducing the number of church buildings. He is calling for a more mission-focused church. In an extended interview, posted on Stuff about two recent memos he has recently circulated, Dew said there should be “fewer conversations about ‘the colour Read more