We held our first parish based Listening & Dialogue session on August 26.
The gathering broke into small groups to pray & reflect on the question; “What do you think God is asking of us in Australia today”?
This is as per the guide at this link here. This is the Listening & Dialogue process. Not an elaborate process, but very, very important as we listen to each other in small group discussions. A bit like a family gathering. We then collected the ideas of the group and they were uploaded to the Plenary Council (PC) website. All these ideas will form the basis of the PC discussion sessions to be held in 2020. This is our opportunity to express our hopes for the future Church in Australia.
The Listening and Dialogue is available for everyone to do anywhere given the way it has been created. Just gather together and use the guide. See the above link.
I was very disappointed by the turnout with only 18 parishioners attending. While the quality of the discussion was exceptionally high with a broad range of topics covered and beautifully explored. However, I couldn’t but contemplate that in the eyes of the parish, they are happy to communicate their wishes for the future of our Church through just this 18 people as compared with the 1,500 parishioners and the many families associated with Catholic Schools in our area. Those who attended made an exceptional contribution, however it was a small percentage of our community. I understand that people have other commitments that may clash and this is why we provided two dates. Nevertheless, I think the initial response does not bode well for people’s appreciation of the opportunity. It may have been my fault. I may have been too zealous in my talk to parishioners or maybe I didn’t promote it well. It may be that people are too busy or don’t understand the PC process.
However, God works in mysterious ways.