SPIRITUALITY defines one’s whole way of life.
As such, spirituality can be defined as a way of being, seeing and acting.
What is distinctive about Christian spirituality is that it is a way of being, seeing and acting that has its source in, and takes its inspiration from, the person and vision of Jesus Christ.
It is therefore a spirituality that has as its source our communion with God, and is forged in communion with others and with all of creation.
It is a spirituality of relationships.
We as the Church must engage with the society we are called to serve and transform, identifying critical issues amid the goodness, evil, strengths and weaknesses around us.
Led by the Holy Spirit we continue to seek effective ways to bring alive the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Archdiocese of Brisbane faces many challenges. It is important for the sake of effective planning to affirm its strengths and gifts, and identify the key issues and tasks that confront it as it strives to be a vibrant, evangelising local Church in south-east Queensland.
Jesus Communion Mission – Archbishop John Bathersby’s vision for growth as a healthy, vibrant, evangelising archdiocese, has three essential dimensions calling Catholics to:
- Embrace the person and vision of Jesus.
- Build Communion with God and others.
- Engage in Jesus’s Mission in the world.
If we are to experience the fullness of Christian life and have the impact in the world that Jesus Christ desires, every community, each individual and the archdiocese as a whole must live these three dimensions dynamically.
Many parishes and Church organisations have been planning effectively for years.
However, even effective planners, inundated by the events of the day, can fall away from the habit of planning and lose strategic focus.
Let Your Light Shine affirms both the importance of pastoral planning as an essential activity for Church bodies, and the archbishop’s expectation that parishes and other bodies/groups engage in pastoral planning in the context of the archdiocesan vision and priorities.
The archbishop has written to Church bodies in the archdiocese asking them to take account of the Jesus Communion Mission vision and the nine archdiocesan priorities in their planning.
These Church bodies have been grouped as:
- Deaneries and parishes.
- Schools.
- Indigenous and ethnic communities.
- Renewal movements, youth groups and lay associations.
- Religious institutes.
- Tertiary institutions.
- Aged and health care services.
- Catholic services and organisations.
- Archdiocesan councils, commissions and committees.
- Vicariates (includes all archdiocesan agencies).
Leaders from these groups are asked to develop their plans and projects and to review the progress of implementation.
Let Your Light Shine will be implemented from 2004-11.
An archdiocesan review of progress will take place in 2008.
To find out more visit www.bne.catholic.net.au/lyls
