| 9th March, 2005
Letter to all Melbourne Archdiocese Parishes [Download Attachment]
Dear Father,
Strategic Working Group for Parishes (SWGP) Some months have now passed since the Archbishop announced the creation of the SWGP and it is timely to report to you the progress to date and to flag the way we intend to move forward.
Guidelines
Our first planning day was held on January 20 th where we set for ourselves a number of key guidelines:
- Our principal objective was to discern the arrangements that would, as the charter states, “ensure an even better announcement of the Good News of the Lord in our time.”
- Critical to our considerations was that our work must be founded in the contemporary theology of the Church and of its mission.
- All our work needed to be conducted in close collaboration with the Office of Evangelisation.
- Optimal use should be made of the existing data and reports available from such diverse sources as:
- CROPP
- Australian Catholic Bishops Pastoral Projects Office
- Catholic Education Office
- Australian Bureau of Statistics
- Archdiocesan agencies
- Consultation with parishes and deaneries would be critical both to informing our work and developing a shared understanding of the direction required.
- What we are addressing is essentially an opportunity for renewal of the Church in Melbourne and we should be open to ideas that are innovative and ambitious, not simply focusing on a redrafting of old arrangements.
Progress to date
Mindful of these guidelines, I can report on some of the steps already undertaken:
- Importantly, Fr. Greg Bennet has joined our meetings to ensure that the Office of Evangelisation and the SWGP move forward together.
- While we are still articulating the ecclesiology to underpin the work of the SWGP, we are developing our thinking around the image of the Church, so aptly presented in Christifideles Laici, as a “communion for mission,” in which every Catholic is called to be part of the mission.
- The CROPP databases have proven a rich source from which to review where the Church in Melbourne is at currently. However, it is clear that we need also to be better informed about how parishes are already responding effectively to the call to mission. (In that context, an invitation to all parishes to help inform the SWGP thinking appears below.) We recognise some reviews have already been completed by parishes and/or deaneries, and where you may consider they would aid the development of our thinking, you are invited to bring them forward.
- We have not yet commenced any work on the detailed aspects of arrangements for parishes. When we move to this stage, the SWGP proposes to engage in discussions with a variety of parishes and deaneries to develop models which can then be opened up more widely to further comment.
Parish Life
We have quickly recognised that a critical issue for the SWGP, is to form a view of what renders a parish capable of providing “an even better announcement of the Good News of the Lord in our time.” The pastoral planning literature has much to offer in this respect. However to ensure that our thinking reflects what is understood from within parish life, the SWGP would be pleased to receive from any (preferably all) parishes a commentary on what it is, that each parish is striving to do well in its role of carrying out the Church’s mission.
This is not meant to be an onerous request and lengthy submissions are not required. We consider that it will be very informative to review a wide range of responses and then to discern from their common threads, those elements of parish life that are regarded by parishes themselves as key to their role of mission. A simple proforma is attached for this purpose and I warmly invite all parishes to respond.
Conscious that the approach of Easter is a busy time in parishes, the proforma is provided now to enable you to put in place the steps to prepare your response. However, the closing date for submission is not until Pentecost. In this way, we hope as many parishes as possible will be able to contribute.
Communication
The members of the working group are conscious that addressing “arrangements for parishes” raises sensitive issues for many priests, parish leadership teams and parishioners. Regular communication of the progress of the SWGP will go part of the way to assuaging these concerns. A SWGP web page has been set up within the Archdiocesan web site and it will be regularly updated as we make progress. It is accessible by clicking on the Strategic Working Group for Parishes entry at www.melbourne.catholic.org.au/organisations.asp I invite all in the parish who are interested in the work of the SWGP to access the site.
Of course, there will be other opportunities for the SWGP to share its work, hopefully in a more personal and interactive manner. Be assured, such opportunities will be readily seized as they present themselves.
The Spirit
The Church will be better enabled to announce “the Good News of the Lord in our time,” when each of us acknowledges that as the people of God, not just some but all are called to mission. This is the renewal of the Church of Melbourne for which we must strive. To achieve this we must work to foster an environment “where the Spirit flourishes.”
So as pastors to your parish, I encourage you to build attitudes that will keep all open to the Spirit’s urgings and to pray with your community for the success of this work that is so important to the future of the Church.
Yours sincerely in Christ,
Rev Monsignor Les Tomlinson VG
CHAIRMAN
|
