THERE’S little silence in dialogue with Natalie Lindner L’Huillier, the new and enthusiastic chair of the Council for Australian Catholic Women (CACW).
No doubt that will stand the 33 year-old in good stead to carry out a “privileged role” announced by the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Commission for Church Ministry (BCCM) earlier this month.
This council, who meet in various dioceses four times a year, exists “to ensure the dignity of women is honoured and their gifts are given space to flourish for the sake of the Church’s life and mission”.
It was Natalie’s self-confessed love of expressing herself that provided an unexpected challenge when fishing with a group of indigenous young people in Broome – the then 19 year-old “learning a new appreciation of silence”.
“The experience of living and working in Broome diocese has had a lasting influence on my life,” she said of working for NET (National Evangelisation Teams) after deferring a science degree.
“I arrived there after a year with NET on the east coast … (that was a year) of very verbal and ‘let me tell you my story’ kind of ministry.
“(But) I got to Broome and realised that wasn’t going to work in that cultural environment.
“This challenged my whole perception of how to share one’s faith.”
Natalie, who was raised in country Victoria, said she “had a lot to learn”.
“I remember thinking, ‘We’ve been fishing for a lot of hours’ before conversation and tentative interpersonal exchanges would start,” she said.
“There was an emphasis on sitting and being with people … and letting things unfold not according to my timetable.
“Essentially it was about letting God be God.”
Natalie said this experience among indigenous cultures spurred the lasting question of “What does the Church of Australia look like?”
As such, articulate Natalie left the notion of a career in science behind and instead dove into studies at the Brisbane College of Theology.
She “balanced one or two units of theology at a time with work in pastoral ministry – one informing the other”.
Another result was “a growing love for ecumenism and dialogue between Christians”.
Natalie spent time on the Council for Ecumenism and Interfaith relations while her “hands-on” ministry stretched to Brisbane archdiocese’s youth office, to a stint of campus ministry at the Australian Catholic University, Banyo, and a number of years in a similar role at St Mary’s College, Ipswich.
A female role model spurred her onwards and upwards.
“An internship program as part of theology involved weekly pastoral reflection on a ministry event,” Natalie said.
“I still credit that experience of meeting weekly with (theology lecturer) Pat Hall as one of the reasons I have been able to continue to work in ministry positions.
“It was absolutely foundational to making sense of what was going on around me and being able to survive the ups and downs of life in pastoral ministry.”
Following the theology degree, adventurous Natalie, who’d met husband Brian L’Huillier on NET and married in 1999, sought opportunities to study ecumenics in Australia “but no such opportunities existed”, she recalled.
Applying for and granted financial support via the National Council of Churches Ecumenical Leadership Fund, she then travelled to Ireland, to complete her Masters in Philosophy at the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College, Dublin. This meant a stretch of 11 months in Ireland while Brian, a musician and teacher, remained local to complete his studies.
Staying initially within a student residence while also working within a high school in Templeogue, Natalie met another well-versed female – school chaplain Anne Loughman. “Hitting it off” immediately Anne invited Natalie to reside with her family, knowing the year away from Brian and others was proving a challenge.
The bond with the Loughmans continues especially because Brian managed to travel overseas to visit during that year.
Natalie admitted her husband of almost 12 years is her “biggest fan” and “finds it hard” to keep up with her at times but was “incredibly supportive” of the new CACW appointment.
Now living in Brighton, they have to “stop themselves sometimes to figure out how all this unfolded”.
“I honestly could not have imagined the twists and turns of our life,” Natalie said from her temporary office at ACU, Banyo, as a “sessional” lecturer in theology.
“It’s easier for me to have confidence in retrospect – about being able to forge a career in theology and ministry – but it’s still really daunting.”
Natalie sees the new role with the CACW as a collaborative one and an extension of her three-year membership.
“Those on the council are people who know Church and have been doing Church in lots of different contexts,” she said.
“We don’t have a deputy (chair) as the leadership is shared by every member of the council and we exercise leadership depending on the gifts we have.
“As we consider the work we have at hand, we quite literally sit around the table and say, ‘Who would be the best person to take this up or speak to this?’
“In that sense there’s a strong and broad base from which the role of chair sits amid broad and collaborative leadership.”
As the youngest woman to chair the council, Natalie said the role affirms her years “working in professional ministry and theology”.
“The council for women works to publicly name and affirm the way women are already active in leadership in the Church,” she said.
“I feel being nominated by my peers is giving me a new sense of my gifts being able to flourish.”
Having received numerous emails of support, Natalie desires to make the most of the opportunity.
“Together with my colleagues of the CACW, I want to be worthy of the hopes and aspirations of our Catholic community in relation to the participation of women in the Church,” she said.
Within such an attitude and continuing to be inspired by many women, there’s the realisation Natalie’s first female role model was Mum Trish.
“As a young woman my Mum and her friends were Church for each other in such powerful ways,” Natalie said.
“That inspired me as a young person … I have been inspired by circles of women and how they operate and form community.”
Admitting she’s “still a country girl at heart” and Brisbane “is still a big country town” because of its “simplicity and friendliness”, it seems the books have replaced any chance of room for fishing rods.
“Yeah, I haven’t been fishing in a long while,” Natalie said laughing heartily.
