OCEANIA/AUSTRALIA - Starting from the parishes Catholic Bishops launch new evangelisation of Australia

Monday, 21 May 2007

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Sydney (Agenzia Fides) - New missionary impetus is needed to counter a decline in religious practice in Australia. With this in mind Archbishop John Bathersby, president of the Australian Bishops' Commission for Mission and Formation, called also to preside a new national office for evangelisation, announced, after consultation with the other bishops, that the new office will soon have a capillary mission programme to enable the Church in Australia to “share the Good News of Jesus Christ with all Australians”.
The programme, starting from parishes, will aim to 'reawaken' Catholics who live the faith passively or inactively and try to involve them with new enthusiasm in the practice and sharing of the faith “a precious treasure” to be shared with all.
According to a recent National Church Life Survey, Churches in Australia are trying to move with the times, proposing new ways and means to evangelise and draw believers to communicate to the men and women of today Christ's love for all humanity.
Among the difficulties progressive ageing of church personnel and scarcity of vocations to the priesthood and the religious life due to spreading secularisation of culture and society. However the Churches have taken up the challenges of the new millennium, learning to use the media and propose the way of Christ as the way to salvation in every epoch.
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference first began to consider opening a national office for evangelisation two years ago on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's encyclical Evangelii Nuntiandi. The Bishops wondered “how to unleash hidden energies for proclaiming the Good News” and agreed on the necessity to have a special national office for evangelisation to address the people's scarce knowledge of the Christian faith and the little impact of the faith on public morals. The office will focus on education to the faith in schools, parishes and pastoral centres. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 21/5/2007 righe 27 parole 274)