THE Australian Catholic bishops have sought Pope Benedict XVI’s prayers for the Year of Grace to be celebrated across the nation from Pentecost 2012 to Pentecost 2013.
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Philip Wilson made the request on behalf of the bishops in an address to the Pope during the bishops’ recent ad limina visit to Rome.
Archbishop Wilson said in his address since the bishops’ previous ad liminia visit in 2004, the years “have been marked by two great graces given by God to the Church in Australia”.
“The first of these was World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008, when it was our joy to welcome you to our shores,” he said.
“The second was the canonisation last year of the first Australian to be recognised as a saint, Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop.
“Now we ask: How are we to build upon these two great graces in order to build the future of the Church in Australia at a complex and challenging time?
“Different voices are heard among us, voices that interpret the past differently – especially the Second Vatican Council – and voices therefore that understand differently how we should move into the future.
“In such a situation, the ministry of unity which is ours as bishops – and supremely yours as Pope – is not always easy.
“Often it is the way of the Cross.”
Archbishop Wilson said “in the attempt to ‘start afresh from Christ’ (Novo Millennio Ineunte, III), in the communion which is in Jesus, we have decided to call the whole Church in Australia to celebrate A Year of Grace from Pentecost 2012 to Pentecost 2013”.
“Through this time we will seek to contemplate the face of Jesus and to listen to his voice at a new depth, in the belief that only he can lead us into the future, that only he can make us one in faith, in hope, in love,” he said.
“Through this year, we will implore a new sending of the Holy Spirit, who alone can breathe new life into the Church.
“Holy Father, we entrust the ‘Year of Grace’ to your prayer and we seek your Apostolic Blessing upon the Church in Australia, that we may be able to build upon the graces of recent times and work together to build the future with the words of the Psalmist in our hearts: ‘If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do the builders labour’ (Psalm 127:1).”
