MORE than 1000 priests, religious and laity from throughout Brisbane archdiocese attended an invitation-only evening at Mayne Hall, St Lucia on July 25 to fan the flame enkindled at the Hearts on Fire evangelisation conference in Brisbane last year.
The event, Beyond Jubilee – Setting Hearts on Fire, opened in a darkened hall to highlight the theme of “fire”, the flame of commitment from the Holy Spirit.
There was a candlelight procession by 24 students from Mt St Michael’s College, Ashgrove, led by Brisbane Catholic Education’s Faith Education Services manager Tim Keating, who carried a huge candle.
This symbolised Archbishop John Bathersby’s call during the evening that “the archdiocese come alive as an evangelising archdiocese”.
The Brisbane Church’s contingent of pilgrims to World Youth Day in Rome were introduced and blessed during the evening.
A new video and booklet, Understanding Evangelisation – Setting Hearts on Fire, was launched for use by parishes and groups.
A project called PrayerFIRE was also launched. This will entail people committing themselves to praying regularly for the archdiocese and its work of evangelisation.
An inspirational video has been made available, in which seven archdiocesan people, religious and lay, talk about the power of prayer in their lives.
Brochures will be distributed throughout the archdiocese soon so people can register a commitment to PrayerFIRE. The plan is to have 10,000 people registered.
Archbishop Bathersby, announcing the commitment to evangelisation, said spirituality was the most important aspect of the Church’s entire mission, that whatever was done had to be “surrounded, supported and shot through with prayer”.
