VISITING U.S. evangelist, Sherry Weddell has told Catholics attending Brisbane’s Summit 2023 that we must accept that “we are living outside Christendom” and that people will not choose a life of faith unless they experience a personal, interior journey towards Christ.
“We live in an age where faith is chosen and not inherited… it doesn’t just come from the tribe anymore,” Ms Weddell told an audience made up of parishioners, educators, parents, support staff, catechists, lay leaders, religious and clergy.
“I know it’s been very difficult for parents and grandparents and family members to see that no matter how carefully we raise our children, they will choose for themselves if they choose to stay Catholic, and take it seriously and live it.
Ms Weddell pointed to “a dramatic change in the climate and spiritual culture” during recent decades.
“In 1947, 88 per cent of Australians would have said they are Christian,” she said.
Now, “44 per cent of Australians say they are Christian. Non-Christians make up 10 per cent, while people with no religious affiliation make up 40 per cent of the population.
“In this culture young adults feel they chose everything about their life.
“And that means the faith has to be personally meaningful to each person who chooses it… they have to find it personally, [it has to be] moving, meaningful, touching, rather than compelling.
With the “cultural flow” against the Church, Ms Waddell called for different tactics to turn faith seekers into disciples capable of growing in their own faith and serving others.
“It’s not that we the Church can’t flourish here. It’s not that we can’t evangelise. It’s not that we cannot help each other and our families and our friends encounter Christ in the midst and follow Him… but we can’t do it the way we did it in the 20th century,” she said.
Speaking of finding faith Ms Weddell said: “You have to want it, you have to chose it,” she said. “It has to be rooted in the living Lord.”
She spoke about moving beyond being a spiritual “baby” to finding intentional discipleship and then, accepting responsibility for missions within the Church.
The three-day summit is aiming to find new directions for Catholic communities across the Brisbane Archdiocese.
Associate director of parish leadership with Evangelisation Brisbane, Teresa McGrath, led an important session on reshaping parish communities.
“We are all called to be evangelists,” she said, speaking of a missionary impulse that she has witnessed and is helping to foster in parishes across the Brisbane Archdiocese.
“Let’s lean in to each others giftedness.”
On Thursday night, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge delivered an opening speech in which he shared his vision and priorities for the Archdiocese.
That vision is contained in a document called “With Lamps Ablaze”, that Archbishop Coleridge wrote whilst on his annual New Year retreat “in a moment of inspiration from the Holy Spirit”.
“In the Church now our lamps have not gone out: far from it,” he wrote.
Among the ‘lamps’ or priorities outlined by Archbishop Coleridge are; teaching prayer, reshaping parish communities, implementing integral ecology and embedding synodal governance.
“What I was keen to do was not just present the priorities but to situate them… and explain why I put them together… and what I hope for them as a seed for the future,” Archbishop Coleridge said.
“One of the things I said was… this is the work of the Holy Spirit, and I’m convinced of that.. and therefore whatever happens will be gift and grace.”
