AUSTRALIA’S Catholic bishops will issue a pastoral letter on the Eucharist as part of their response to Pope John Paul II’s call to tackle secularism in Australia and to encourage the observance of the Sunday Mass.
A broad renewal and education on the Eucharist was a focus of the bishops’ plenary meeting in Sydney earlier this month.
In an interview with Vatican Radio at the close of the plenary session, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president, Archbishop Francis Carroll, said the meeting had been infused with the spirit of the bishops’ recent ad limina visit to Rome.
The bishops decided the issuing of a pastoral letter on the Eucharist would be combined with other associated pastoral activities.
‘We had very much in mind the Holy Father’s speaking particularly to the observance of the Lord’s Day and so, generally speaking, it was against that background, I suppose, of trying to combat the secularism in Australian society that many of our discussions were held,’ Archbishop Carroll said.
He said the Vatican’s recent Instruction on the Observance of the Eucharist was also considered.
