ARCHBISHOP John Bathersby of Brisbane has called on Catholics to become people of prayer and action, in his Lenten pastoral letter to be read in parishes this weekend.
In the letter, Archbishop Bathersby reflects on the fact that ‘for too many people today Christianity has lost its delicate balance of prayer and action manifest in the life of Christ himself, and repeated in the life of the Church’.
‘Even a cursory examination of the Gospels indicates that Christ gave over-arching importance to the presence and will of God, from which logically flowed all his Kingdom-driven action, as he reached out with promises of justice, peace and freedom for all.
‘Today’s Church culture seems to have embraced the latter and forgotten the former.’
Archbishop Bathersby reminds the archdiocese of the need to be people of prayer and action, as Jesus was.
‘That is the challenge for all of us in the aftermath of our archdiocesan synod with its nine priorities for action,’ he said.
Archbishop Bathersby said Lent called all of us to repentance.
‘This Lent I would hope that all parishes in the archdiocese will reach out to all their Catholic people, not only those who worship regularly, but also all those who have been baptised into the Church and are still searching for answers, as well as that multitude of people who have never yet heard the Good News,’ he said.
For the full text of Archbishop Bathersby’s Lenten pastoral letter click here
