Tag Archives: PROCLAIM 2016

Finding the Silver Bullet for Evangelisation

Bishop Nicholas Hudson

Bishop Nicholas Hudson

Interview with Bishop Nicholas Hudson, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, on Friday 2 September during the Proclaim 2016, national conference on evangelisation.

‘Are you going to give us a silver bullet for evangelisation?’ Bishop Nicholas Hudson, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, was asked on the journey from Sydney airport to the Diocese of Broken Bay for the Proclaim 2016, national conference on evangelisation.

He quickly responded, ‘there is no silver bullet, it’s going to be different in every parish and every local community’. Interestingly, the question stayed with him and ‘I’ve found myself thinking, there is one silver bullet and that is to just start doing it’.

‘Sometimes there is scope for reflection and being strategic that’s the reason why we are all gathered here for Proclaim 2016. We know that Pope Francis has a vision and there is a phrase, “Vision without strategy is hallucination”. That is how Pope Francis sees it and when he says that he dreams of a missionary option for the Church, what he means is that we need to do a lot of rethinking.

Bishop Comensoli leading morning prayer during Proclaim 2016

Bishop Comensoli leads morning prayer during Proclaim 2016

‘We need to rethink our strategies, our methods and our structures in order to be more evangelising but the way we become more evangelising is just by getting on with it.

The Proclaim conference was hosted by the Diocese of Broken Bay in partnership with the Australian Catholic Bishops Commission for Evangelisation.

Bishop Hudson’s address at the Proclaim conference focused on parishes becoming oases of mercy. ‘I learnt from my Dad when I was six years old, he used to take me out to visit the neighbours who were elderly or alone. He wasn’t self-consciously teaching me to make our family or our parish an oasis of mercy, but I realised that he was for those vulnerable people around us, an oasis of mercy.

‘He would say to me, Nick, let’s go and see Bob, next door, or we would drop off a shepherd’s pie to Mr Flood every Saturday. It was a way of showing mercy. So I believe that parishes need believe in being oasis of mercy, by simply showing mercy to their neighbours. The clue is to simply ask, who is my neighbour? And if you ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in the response, you can’t but become more evangelising.’ Continue reading

New Evangeliser has four qualities: courage, confidence, a sense of urgency and joy, Cardinal Wuerl tells Proclaim 2016 delegates

Cardinal Wuerl

Cardinal Wuerl

The new evangeliser needs four qualities for successful parish renewal: courage, confidence, a sense of urgency and joy, keynote speaker Cardinal Donald Wuerl told Proclaim 2016 delegates during his opening address on 1 September in Sydney.

‘Many young people today have these qualities,’ the Archbishop of Washington said.

‘Courage could also be described as boldness. We only have to think of Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth in order to understand the sense of urgency in our task, she set off at pace. We are not passive bystanders.’

Speaking about Pope Francis, parish renewal and evangelisation, the Cardinal said, ‘others have gone before us but the responsibility of parish renewal falls to us. It’s our turn now. Continue reading

Closing date for PROCLAIM 2016 approaches

2016 Proclaim eNewsbuttonDelegates have one more week to register for the PROCLAIM 2016 conference.

Registrations for PROCLAIM 2016 will close on 1 August. The event will features three international keynote speakers, 30 exhibitors supporting parish life and 35 practical workshops focused on one evangelising mission.

Hundreds of parish leaders from Australia and abroad  will gather together for the event hosted by the Diocese of Broken Bay in partnership with the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

The full conference program is available online.

Some of the workshop topics include: connecting parish and school, renewing sacramental preparation, family-friendly liturgies and evangelisation strategies.

Fr John Pearce CP & Paige Bullen will lead the workshop on ‘Connecting the Parish and School for Christ-Centred Mission. The relationship between the parish and school represents one of the greatest opportunities for evangelisation in the Australian context. Growing relationships and connections at various levels of parish and school life has been the key ingredient in the story of St Brigid’s, Marrickville. Continue reading