At parish conference, bishop promotes intentional communities

The conference took place at Catholic Cathedral College on May 15 and 16. It included a keynote address by Christchurch Bishop Michael Gielen.

Bishop Gielen focused on the importance of intentional small Christian communities. He encouraged those at the conference to establish this culture in their parish. He then led people into a time of prayer and praise, which included prayer teams from other parishes. The sacrament of Reconciliation was available.

St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral administrator Fr Simon Eccleton delivered an address on “Being a Community of Disciples on Mission”.

“We who know our own frailty, who know the forgiveness of the Lord, who know the preciousness of the life that we have, that God has given us, we are invited to be agents of change through the way we live our lives – our family life, our life as Catholic parishioners,” Fr Eccleton said. 

“People are searching like I have never seen before in my 37 years as a priest,” he said. “I have never seen the number of people who are coming through the doors of our church with questions in their hearts.

“. . . . We need to be equipped for mission because the Lord isn’t waiting – he is bringing people to us and expecting that we will give to them what they need.”

Two assistant priests at the parish conducted workshops. Fr Viet Thai’s workshop was titled “From Mass to Mission: How Sunday worship sends us into the week”. Fr Monty Bamford ran a workshop on “Listening before speaking: How Jesus evangelised through encounter”.

Other workshop topics were “Missionary disciples in ordinary life”, “Sharing your faith story”, “Families as missionary disciples”, “Prayer for the mission”, “Serving the poor as mission” and “Hospitality as evangelisation”. The workshop speakers were all members of the parish.

A Cathedral parish Facebook post stated: “From shared meals and workshops to keynote talks and moments of reflection, there was a real sense that the Holy Spirit was moving among us..

“Perhaps one of the biggest takeaways was this: The Church is most alive when people feel welcomed, connected and called to mission. So many spoke about the joy of gathering together, the encouragement of hearing others’ stories and the renewed sense that each of us has a part to play in building a parish where people can encounter Jesus and truly belong.”

FULL STORY

Facebook (Catholic Cathedral Parish, Ōtautahi-Christchurch)

Being a Community of Disciples on Mission (Catholic Cathedral Parish, Ōtautahi-Christchurch/YouTube)