AS one of the organisers of the Ignite 06 conference, I wish to assure Jenny Close (Have Your Say, CL 10/9/06) that we have a similar passion for the use of imagery to portray Christian truths in a way that is relevant to young people.
Far from being any sort of connection with the Crusades or anti-Muslim sentiments, the imagery was chosen to portray the spiritual battle of faith and the epic journey every person is on in growing in relationship to Christ and the Church, using the “parables” that young people relate to today, such as Narnia or The Lord of the Rings.
These modern parables may contain battle scenes but they also communicate important spiritual truths.
In the promotional video, the phrase “an ancient call” connects not with the image of a crusader (as Ms Close claims), but with a stained glass image of Jesus’ baptism, and is followed later by a young person being anointed and commissioned by a priest.
As a member of the Archdiocesan Commission for Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, I am well aware of the healing and co-operation that is urgently needed today between Christians and Muslims.
That Ms Close reads an anti-Muslim or militant sentiment in some of the images is unfortunate.
Young people today – to whom the promotion is oriented – simply do not read the same messages into the imagery as Ms Close has.
The promotional material was shown to several young people as it was being produced, and over the last few months I have personally watched it alongside hundreds of other young people.
At no time have I experienced from any young person the slightest association with Islam, because for them that association is simply not there.
Rather, the main message young people receive is a sense of personal call that gives them a role in the Church, and that the Church isn’t irrelevant after all!
As Pope Benedict and our own archbishop constantly remind us, the Church needs renewal, and for this to happen we need to recognise the important role that each of us must play.
With over 500 young people expected to attend the Ignite conference this year from across Australia and New Zealand, our prayer is that each participant would experience this call and together be part of the renewal needed in the Church today.
LUKE PLANT
Co-director of Ignite 06
Mansfield, Qld
