Assembly marks historic moment for Canberra and Goulburn Archdiocese, emphasising Community, Discipleship, and Evangelisation

The Archdiocesan Assembly heralds a new chapter for the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, Archbishop Christopher Prowse said during the landmark event.

More than 650 people gathered at hubs in Canberra, Narooma, Goulburn, Cooma, Young and online on Saturday to celebrate the fruits of the Holy Spirit and explore new opportunities for evangelisation and synodality in the life and mission of the Church.

The hum of conversation rose and fell in rhythmic crescendo as Conversations in the Spirit sessions addressed encounter, discipleship, and mission.

St Thomas the Apostle Assistant Principal Susan McRedmond and St Monica’s Assistant Principal Maggie Lloyd said that while they hadn’t known what to expect from the Assembly, they had been interested in hearing collective voices and discovering how to make a difference in their parishes and schools.

“I had many questions about what it was going to be about and what it was going to be like,” Susan said.

“Being able to be with other people, who don’t share the same stories as you, and learn from them, that has been the main thing for me.”

Maggie said the experiences shared during the roundtables had made her realise that more needed to be done to support community members.

“From a school and parish perspective, we do some amazing things, but there is a lot more we can continue to do,” she said.

“Things like supporting mental health and allied services for our students and for migrant families and just to trying to bring people together can be tricky. There are things that we do really well, but there are things we can improve upon too.”

“I would really like to see that we’ve all got a shared understanding of where we’re going in the future and hopefully being able to spread the mission and the discipleship of Jesus moving forward and to be able to share that,” Susan added.

“I hope we can all collectively come together and we can support each other in our faith and strengthen that bond and that community.”

Chancellor Patrick McArdle said strong themes had emerged over the course of the weekend, with thousands of responses collected from the three sessions and grouped into convergences using Menti, an interactive presentation platform.

“In fact, the two things that were most dominant in the Menti programs were things that described aspects of relationship and aspects of sacrament – they were themes throughout the whole thing,” he said.

“And I guess in that there was a sense in which we were being asked to embrace our baptismal call in those two elements.”

Archdiocesan Assembly Hub Reflections – (Click to read)

 

The Assembly was live streamed to the regional hubs, with young people facilitating at each location.

“There has been a wonderful sense of listening and hospitality amongst us,” Archbishop Prowse said.

“Given the way we have done this – in a multi-modal way – there has been a sense of the entire Archdiocese in representation being involved in this. That’s much more than we have ever thought or imagined.”

In Young, Isabelle Seselja said the room had a wonderful energy.

“It has been beautiful to see everyone engaging in really open and honest dialogue,” she said.

In Narooma, people were also highly engaged and eager to share their experiences.

“There has been a lot we have heard today that we can take back to our own parishes and discern how the Holy Spirit can improve the lives of our parishes,” Zane Mason said.

Crystal Lavien, in Cooma, said the assembled group expressed enthusiasm for being more involved in the Archdiocese.

“Everyone was keen to see changes in how we converge and address key differences between what the cities and rural regions need,” she said.

“A real takeaway was the value of community and the importance of community and discipleship – how we journey and walk beside each other,” Bartholomew Bunk added.

Bree Foley said the atmosphere in Goulburn was similar to the other regional hubs.

“It is difficult being more regional and remote, and there was talk about how we can collaborate more and provide more resources and receive more resources and support from some of our city parishes so we can create a ministry that is sustainable,” she said.

“There has also been a lot of chat about how important it is to invest in our young people and create youth ministry opportunities.”

As part of the online group, Naomi Siahaan said it was interesting to hear from people all around the Archdiocese.

“A big part is the sense of belonging and community. Many people felt that there isn’t a lot of community they can be involved in, and how to combat that through reaching out and being welcoming,” she said.

“A personal invitation can go a really long way.”

Canberra participant Trish O’Connell said the Assembly was a good chance for different communities to come together.

“You get really busy with work and with school, so you don’t get to really reach outside your community as much as you’d like, so this was a good opportunity to do that,” she said.

“One of the main things would just be a big focus on the sacraments, on tradition, as well as looking outside of ourselves as well and reaching out to others like Jesus would have done and as he does in the Gospels.”

Skye McFadden said she felt the Holy Spirit was active in the sharing of thoughts and ideas.

“I’m very much embracing that the Holy Spirit is here with us today,” she said.

“I’m getting to know all the people on my table and what’s really standing out is the importance of relationships and connections and building some way that we can as a big community come together and have some consistency around how we celebrate our faith.”

Addressing the gathering on Saturday afternoon, Chloe Warmenhoven said student voices had also been included in the Assembly.

“Students were asked to reflect on the question ‘How can a church help young people know Jesus?’” she said.

“The importance of community and relationship was also really evident in our responses from our young people. They expressed a deep desire to form personal relationships, not only with their youth ministers and teachers in their schools, but their priests and their broader faith and local communities and parishes.”

The Assembly officially commenced on Friday evening, with an Ecumenical Prayer Vigil at St Christopher’s Cathedral, embedding the Assembly in a foundation of prayerful reflection.

Faith leaders from around the Archdiocese united in solidarity, reflecting Pope Francis’ reminder that Christian unity and synodality are deeply intertwined, and synodality is the path God expects of the Church in the third millennium.

The synodal approach, the Holy Father said, is a path to be travelled by all Christians.

“The journey of synodality… is and must be ecumenical,” he said.

Speaking at the vigil, Mosaic Baptist Church Senior Pastor Phil Waugh said it was wonderful to come together over the theme of the Holy Spirit.

“We have so often found things to divide ourselves over, but this always comes at the expense of the many important things we should find to unite us,” he said.

“The Holy Spirit is freely given to each of us, and that alone should be sufficient to unite us.”

Under the direction of choirmaster Jaki Kane, Vietnamese, African, Filipino, and Indian choirs united to form a Multicultural Choir in honour of the occasion.

Archbishop Christopher Prowse said the launch of the choir served as a beautiful metaphor for unity.

“It symbolises how diverse individuals can unite in harmony,” he said.

“Although many, we can sing together in a way pleasing to God.”

The Assembly concluded on Sunday with a Mission Mass. Archbishop Prowse shared a pastoral letter to parishes throughout the Archdiocese.

“We are slowly gaining confidence that ‘walking together’ in a prayerful manner that truly listens and respects many viewpoints seems ‘good to us and the Holy Spirit (Acts 15/28),” he said.

“This intentional listening is based on the belief that the Holy Spirit is subtly moving among us. Based on our Baptism and arising charisms, we separate convergences and divergences and list areas for further discussion.

“This happened over the Assembly weekend and the months beforehand when so many attempted to ‘learn to swim’ in the ancient but new methodology of Conversation in the Spirit via the roundtable experiences.

Having prayed, ‘Come, Holy Spirit’, it becomes a real conversion experience for us in restricting ourselves not to walk either too fast or too slow for the Holy Spirit.

Let the Holy Spirit guide us.”

The Archbishop said the Assembly was only the beginning.

“This is the first step of many steps,” he said.

“The first Assembly of many Assemblies. This has been a great start.”

A synthesis report from the Archdiocesan Assembly will be available on 4 November.