EVANGELIST and best-selling author Sherry Weddell wants Australian Catholics to “break the silence” about Jesus.
Ahead of her keynote address at Brisbane archdiocese’s Summit 2023, Ms Weddell spoke with The Catholic Leader about falling Mass attendance in Australian parishes and the demographic shift in the Church.
Recently, the National Church and Life Survey found people who identified as Catholic had fallen in Australia by about 220,000 people.
Ms Weddell said falling Mass attendance could be felt by everyone, not just Catholics.
It was a difficult challenge to face, but she said she knew two places where she would begin to address the problem.
Breaking the silence about Jesus had to happen in “as many ways as you can”.
She said it was no wonder so many people did not come to Mass if we never mentioned Jesus.
“When we don’t use Jesus’ name …
“When we don’t tell our personal stories of encountering and walking with Jesus …
“When we don’t help people wrestle with the Great Story over and over: the story of Jesus’ Incarnation, life, miracles, teachings, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension, and the call to follow him in the midst of his Church …
“When we don’t talk about Jesus’ active and saving personal Presence among us right now, both spiritually, and in the Eucharist …
“Why are we surprised that so many Catholics and non-Catholics don’t know that you can have a joyful, peaceful, healing, and transforming relationship with the personal God who cares about you and answers your prayers?”
Sustained and serious intercessory prayer for the Kingdom of God “is powerful and can change the whole spiritual ‘climate’ of a parish”, she said.
“This ‘spiritual climate change’ can be felt not only by parishioners and visitors, but also by non-Catholics who live within the boundaries of the parish,” she said.
“Intercessory prayer builds and increases trust and spiritual openness.
“People of all backgrounds become more open to and responsive to everything else we do – evangelisation, hospitality, good preaching, worship, retreats, social outreach, et cetera.”
As an “Evangeliser’s tip” she said, “Regular church attendance today is directly related to the percentage of our population who believe in a personal God who cares about us and hears and will intervene in our lives in response to our prayers”.
Ms Weddell saw the fact that few people in the secularised West “just ‘inherit’ the faith of their parents” as a major challenge for the Church today.
“Today, adults have to personally choose the Catholic faith for themselves even if they have been baptised and have received all the sacraments of initiation,” she said.
“Many raised in the Church have told us that they think of God as distant, judgmental and impersonal.
“To become a disciple and follow Jesus as an adult, they have to know him to be a genuine source of goodness, meaning and healing.
“If you have experienced and believe in the loving and powerful personal God of Christianity, it changes everything.
“We have to help Catholics do that intentionally. If we don’t, they won’t stay.”
For more information visit https://evangelisationbrisbane.org.au/summit/
